No relief to bike-taxi company

CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court on Friday rejected a plea from Telangana-based Roppen Transport Corporation to grant an interim stay of the orders of a single judge, which restrained it from acting as an intermediary to connect private motorcycle owners to offer pillion seats to commuting public.

A bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, before which the appeal from Roppen came up, ordered notice to the State transport department and Transport commissioner, returnable by July 30.
The firm’s main prayer was to quash the interim order of single judge, restraining it from continuing the business till the regulations are framed by the State government. The bench said it cannot grant any interim relief without hearing the authorities concerned and other parties to the appeal.

According to petitioner, it operates as a platform to facilitate travel through bike pooling between individuals travelling in the same direction. With a view to bringing an innovative and social change in the means of transportation adopted by persons in urban cities, the company devised a mobile application called “Rapido” to facilitate bike pooling.

While so, a writ petition was filed in the High Court by a cab driver to remove the app and a single judge after going through a communication of Commissioner of Police to Apple Incorporation and Google to restrict the access of the website by the public, passed an interim order restraining it from carrying on the bike pooling business. Hence, the appeal.