An advocate, representing the Bike Taxi Welfare Association, pointed out that authorities were seizing individual bike taxis and taking action against the drivers despite a clear instruction from the court not to take coercive step against them.
| Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J
The High Court of Karnataka orally clarified to State Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty that the court, on August 20, had only asked him to instruct the authorities not to take any precipitative action against individual bike taxi owners or drivers for operating their vehicles.
On August 22, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.. M. Joshi gave this clarification when the A-G complained that aggregators, like Uber, Ola and Rapido, have started offering bike taxis on their platforms even though the court had not given any such a liberty to them.
“You can take any action as per law against them [aggregators],” the bench orally told the A-G while reiterating that it had asked the authorities ‘not to harass’ bike taxi owners or drivers.
An advocate, representing the Bike Taxi Welfare Association, pointed out to the bench that transport authorities were seizing individual bike taxis and taking action against the drivers despite a clear instruction from the court not to take coercive step against them.
In response, the bench told the State A-G that it can pass an order in writing to ensure that individual bike taxi owners or drivers are not harassed by authorities. Mr. Shetty assured the bench that he would instruct the authorities appropriately.
Published – August 22, 2025 11:38 am IST
