Punjab and Haryana High Court halts STA's ban on Uber in Chandigarh
The court's decision comes less than two weeks after the STA's order was announced.
Chandigarh, May 30: In a significant development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a stay order on the recent decision made by the Secretary of the UT State Transport Authority (STA) to prohibit taxis registered in Punjab and Haryana from operating in Chandigarh.
The court's decision comes less than two weeks after the STA's order was announced. The stay order was issued by a Bench comprising of Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Manisha Batra in response to a petition filed by Uber India Technology Private Limited, represented by their counsel, Rohan Mittal.
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The Bench has scheduled the case for further hearing on September 27. During the hearing, it was revealed that the UT State Transport Authority had demanded an entry fee of approximately Rs 2 crore from Uber. According to the order, if Uber failed to deposit the required amount, its license would be considered canceled from June 16.
In their petition, Uber challenged the legality and validity of the STA's order and requested a stay on its implementation. Senior advocate DS Patwalia, along with counsel Mittal and Vikrant Pachnanda, appeared before the Bench and raised concerns about the imposition of the entry fee.
They argued that the fee was imposed under the Chandigarh Administration On-demand Transportation Technologies Aggregator Rules, 2017, which have been superseded by the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2020, issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The petitioner contended that the new guidelines issued by the central government should take precedence over the outdated local rules. They questioned the justification for imposing the entry fee based on regulations that were no longer in effect.
With the Punjab and Haryana High Court's stay order, the STA's decision to ban Uber in Chandigarh is temporarily halted. The court will further examine the case in September to determine the legality of the entry fee and the authority's decision. This development provides some relief to Uber and its operations in the region while awaiting a final resolution from the court.
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