Ola, Uber Must Apply For A Licence, Says Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed cab aggregators such as Ola Cars Pvt. and Uber India Technology Pvt. to apply for licences to carry on business by March 16, lawyers involved in the matter told BloombergQuint.
According to the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act and Motor Vehicles Aggregators Guidelines, 2020, cab aggregators require a licence to ply. An aggregator is a digital intermediary for a passenger to connect with a driver for transportation.
Noting this, Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Vinay Ganjanan Joshi directed the state to come up with a notification by March 9, empowering all regional transport authorities to act as licensing authorities.
The court's directions came as part of a petition filed by Advocate Savina Crasto against Uber. Crasto had complained about lack of proper consumer grievance redressal mechanism, and non-compliance with Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019, which laid down the requirement of obtaining a licence.
Uber had cited lack of rules by the state government after the 2019 amendment as the reason for not obtaining a licence for continuing business.
Dismissing the argument, the high court passed the following directions:
Once applications are received, licensing authorities should decide on grant of licence within 14 days.
If an application is rejected, then the aggrieved cab aggregator can move the State Transport Appellate Tribunal to challenge the order.
If the appellate body, too, rejects the appeal, the licence-seeking aggregator won't be permitted to carry on further activities in the state.
The court also expressed its displeasure at the state government for permitting cab aggregators to ply without complying with statutory regulations.
The matter is expected to come up next in four weeks.
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