The Delhi High Court has issued an order preventing the Delhi government from taking any coercive action against bike taxi aggregators Rapido and Uber until guidelines governing such aggregators are officially notified. This decision was made in response to a petition filed by Rapido, and a similar order was passed regarding Uber's plea.
Parag Maini, a partner at AZB Law Partners, the law firm representing Rapido, has confirmed the development and expressed relief not only for Rapido but also for several bike-taxi operators associated with the company.
Previously, in February, the Delhi government had issued a public notice stating that bike taxis were not allowed in the national capital. According to the notice, two-wheelers with non-transport (private) registration engaging in purely commercial operations would be in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act and related rules. The transport department had warned that app-based aggregators would have to cease their services immediately, or they would face a fine of ₹1 lakh.
Rapido took the matter to court, challenging the notices as well as the constitutional validity of the Delhi Motor Vehicle Rules. The case was argued by Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta, who was supported by the AZB & Partners team consisting of Hardeep Sachdeva, Abhishek Awasthi (Senior Partners), Kamal Shankar, Parag Maini (Partners, Dispute Resolution), and Raghav Chadha, Pradyumna Sharma, Kshitiz Rao (Senior Associates).
It is worth noting that earlier, the Maharashtra government had refused to grant a two-wheeler bike taxi aggregator license to Rapido. The Bombay High Court rejected Rapido's plea challenging this decision, and the company subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which also denied relief to Rapido.
TAGS: Delhi High Court bike taxi aggregators Rapido Uber guidelines coercive action Division Bench Suresh Kumar Kait Neena Bansal Krishna petition Delhi government public notice national capital Motor Vehicles Act transport department app-based aggregators challan AZB Law Partners constitutional validity Jayant Mehta Maharashtra government Bombay High Court Supreme Court license.
