The Bombay High Court has rejected a plea by Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd (Rapido) against Pune authority’s refusal to grant it a license for operating two and three wheeler taxis in the city.
The bike-taxi aggregator was asked to suspend its operations in Maharashtra by the Bombay HC after it was discovered that it did not have the license to operate from the state government.
The Bombay HC rejected Rapido’s plea on “no merits” ground. A division bench of Justice GS Patel and Justice SG Dige pointed out that there are discrepancies in Rapido’s stand.
The High Court accepted the role of the state government. “State Govt can take appropriate action if Rapido is providing rickshaw and other services like delivery without license,” it said. “No one has the right to provide such services in the state without a license, said the court.
Live Law reported that the courtr raised discrepancies in Rapido’s arguments. The bench said that one one hand Rapido is saying license cannot be rejected on the ground of the absence of state policy on two-wheelers while on the other hand, it cites the absence of a state policy for non-compliance with the Motor Vehicle Aggregator’s Guidelines 2020 issued by the Centre.
“It is difficult to see how both arguments can exist. When non-compliance is pointed out, the absence of guidelines is cited…we do not understand how an aggregator can lay claim to operate without a license and against the guidelines…It is also not right to say that the rejection was solely on the lack of policy. The order would have to be seen with its notings,” the Bench observed.
The court also added that the Centre’s Motor vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020 may not apply tot he state as the state is allowed to make its own rules and the aggregator cannot thus assume it has permission to ply.
