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 on Friday orally clarified to State Advocate-General Shashi Kiran Shetty that the court, on August 20, had only asked the A-G to instruct the authorities not to take any precipitative action against individual bike taxi owners or drivers for operating their vehicles.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Joshi gave this clarification during morning session 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 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” individual bike taxi owners or drivers.Meanwhile, an advocate representing the Bike Taxi Welfare Association (BTWA) and individual bike taxi owners, 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 owners and drivers.In response, the bench told the State A-G that it can pass an order in writing to ensure that bike taxi owners or drivers are not harassed by authorities. Mr. Shetty assured the bench that he would instruct the authorities appropriately.Offer of aggregatorsFollowing the clarification, the advocates representing aggregators pointed out to the bench in the afternoon session that it would be difficult for individual bike taxi owners to connect with the customers without an app and hence offered to allow use of their platforms to bike taxi owners and drivers free of cost till the court adjudicates the issue.However, the Bench noted that allowing such a request would amount to passing an interim order, and it would not be proper for it to pass any interim order at this stage as it is hearing the pleas finally.Bike taxi banned in JuneBike taxi operations, including those operating through the platforms, were discontinued from June 16 after a single judge of the High Court in its April 2 verdict refused to interfere with the State government’s decision to ban bike taxis and ordered aggregators to cease offering bike taxis on their platforms by June 15.Following this judgement, the aggregators, BTWA and a few individual bike taxi owners, in their appeals before the Division Bench, challenged the April 2 order of the single judge, who had declared that “unless the State government notifies relevant guidelines under Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the Rules, the aggregators cannot offer bike taxi services.”The hearing on these appeals are at the final stage and the bench on August 22 had adjourned further hearing till September 22 after the A-G stated that at the highest level of the government, a serious thought would be given to the issues raised in the appeals. Published - August 22, 2025 11:38 am IST
