Rapido Agrees To Discontinue All Services In Maharashtra Till 20th January

The Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice GS Patel and Justice SG Dige today asked Roppen Transportation Private Limited to discontinue its auto rickshaw, two-wheeler, and delivery services in the State of Maharashtra till 20th January i.e., the next date of hearing.

The division bench asked the company to inform the court that all its services have been disabled in the State of Maharashtra.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Rapido against the state government's refusal to grant them a license for bike taxi services.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf for the State argued that the petitioner did not have a license to operate. He contended that the petitioner could not come to the court while invoking Article 226 and at the same time continue its services illegally without a license.

He submitted that the minimum condition which could be imposed upon the petitioner was that they should be asked to discontinue the services till the time of disposal of the petition.

He further informed the court the operating two-wheeler aggregators have been granted licenses by the state government and a show cause notice has also been issued to Uber for operating two-wheeler services.

The Advocate General said that the status quo granted by the Supreme Court was with respect to four-wheeler services and not two-wheeler.

Thereafter, the advocate for the company requested the court to keep the matter for next week since her senior was not present.

The division bench then told the petitioner that it would pass an order to keep the matter for next week but it will pass an order directing the petitioner to discontinue its services till the next hearing. The petitioner then agreed to discontinue its services till 20th January.

While the court passed the order, the advocate for the petitioner requested the court to let them continue its auto rickshaw and delivery-based services to which the court asked if they have the license for those services. Advocate General Birendra Saraf then told the court that the petitioner has not even applied for licenses for other services.

While expressing displeasure for not informing the court about not having licenses for other services, Justice GS Patel said,

“By the time this order ends, I want that app to be shut down. Don't wait for the order”.

The court said that the petitioner was trying to get protection for their illegality under Article 226. It said,

"We will not protect your illegality under Article 226. Dr. Saraf's entire team is present here. They will be watching over you like hawks. If you make one mistake, we will dismiss your petition and make sure you don't get a license permanently and also impost cost on you".

The Court then directed the petitioner to discontinue all its services in the State of Maharashtra by 1 PM today till the next hearing on 20th January.

Case Title:  Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd & Anr vs State of Maharashtra & Ors