No relief to Rapido against ban in Maharashtra
New Delhi, February 7: Supreme Court on Tuesday denied relief to Rapido, a bike, taxi, and auto aggregator that had challenged a Bombay High Court order ordering the company to cease operations in Maharashtra immediately because it did not have a licence to operate bike, taxi, or rickshaw services.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala stated that amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act made it clear that aggregators could not operate without a valid licence. The Supreme Court granted the company permission to appeal to the Bombay High Court against the State of Maharashtra's January 19 notification.
It also ordered that the High Court consider such a challenge without bias.
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Rapido's licence application was denied by the Pune RTO in December 2022.
Previously, the Bombay High Court ordered Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited, which operates the bike taxi aggregator Rapido, to halt operations until January 20 because the startup has yet to receive a licence from the Maharashtra government.
The Bombay High Court fined a Pune-based bike taxi aggregator for operating without a Maharashtra government licence and ordered that its services be suspended immediately.
Roppen Transportation had petitioned the High Court in response to the Maharashtra government's refusal to grant them a bike taxi aggregator licence.
The government cited the lack of a state policy on bike taxi licencing and a fare structure policy as the reason.
The state government informed the High Court that a committee had been formed to investigate the development of guidelines for bike taxis in the state.
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- ANI
