PremiumMUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday asked Rapido, bike taxi and auto aggregator, to suspend, for the time being, its services in Maharashtra or face cancellation of its license permanently, in a case related to illegal plying of bike taxis in the state.
In response, Rapido has said it will suspend its services in Maharashtra till 20 January and also would suspend its mobile application within the state starting today.
Rapido is an Indian bike taxi aggregator and logistics service provider based out of Bengaluru.
A bench led by justices Gautam S Patel and SG Dige said, “If you (Rapido) make one mistake, we will dismiss this petition. We will ensure that you are restrained from getting a licence permanently, and we will impose costs while dismissing this petition."
On Tuesday, the high court had asked the state government why there was an inordinate delay and uncertainty in formulating a policy pertaining to allowing bike taxis to ply in the state while also pointing out that the issue cannot be left hanging over the fire. It had also asked the government, by what date will it make a decision in this regard.
Responding to the bench, counsel Birendra Saraf, representing the Maharashtra government, said that currently, bike taxis cannot be permitted to ply as the government has not issued any policy in this regard.
The bench had also asked the government to decide on an application by Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd, operator of Rapido in Mumbai and Pune, which has been seeking a bike taxi aggregator licence.
On 29 December, a Maharashtra government notification had refused to grant a licence to such entities due to which the company challenged the notification.
“We are perfectly clear that there is no need for a one-size-fits-all or blanket policy for the whole state. The government can specify within which city it can be granted and during what period of the day bike taxis can run. There could be different restrictions for various cities, but in any case, a decision has to be made one way or another," justice Patel said.