Bombay HC Asks State Govt To Formulate Policy On Bike Taxi Aggregator licensing

A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice GS Patel and Justice SG Dige, in a plea filed by Roppen Transportation Services, observed that the State Government should consider formulating a policy for two-wheeler bike taxi aggregator licenses.

The High Court was hearing a plea filed by Roppen Transportation Services against the order of the State Government refusing to grant the license to the petitioner for bike taxi aggregators.

Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy for the petitioner submitted that the Central Government has framed the policy which is applicable to the State of Maharashtra.

The State Government’s communication of 29th December 2022 said that there is currently no State Government policy on licensing of bike taxies and there is no fare structure policy for bike taxies.

The High Court while noting that the State Government should form a policy on the same observed,

“Nobody seems to have applied their mind to the evident advantages from various perspectives including reducing traffic congestion, pollution reduction, and efficiency in transport by allowing bike rider systems. We expect that these will be made subject to certain safety requirements that must be followed but that is hardly a reason for rejecting the entire proposal in this fashion. Outside Mumbai, and in fact even in the northern suburban of Mumbai, two wheeler transport is by far the norm and is a matter of great convenience. We see no reason why the Government should not seriously consider the proposal.”

The Court then directed the government to inform its final decision in regard to the two-wheeler or bike taxi aggregators' license application.

Senior Advocate Chinoy informed the court that there is a similar company providing exactly the same service however the other company is allowed to operate since there is a status quo order of the Supreme Court. The High Court asked Senior Advocate Chinoy to file the same on affidavit and noted that:

“In another manner of speaking, if the Petitioner was providing exactly the same service as the aggregator before the Supreme Court on 21st April 2022, then the status-quo order passed by the Supreme Court must obviously extend to the Petitioner as well.”

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