Uber served notice for violating Motor Vehicles Act

Priyanka Pani Updated - January 20, 2018 at 06:59 PM.

Accused of plying two-wheeler taxis with white number plates

A file illustration picture shows the logo of car-sharing service app Uber on a smartphone next to the picture of an official German taxi sign in Frankfurt, September 15, 2014. A German court is set to rule March 18, 2015, whether Uber's novel taxi-hailing service violates driver licensing rules, a decision that could lead to a nationwide ban on the service. The case in a Frankfurt court brought by German taxi operator group Taxi Deutschland against Uber is one of more than a dozen lawsuits filed across Europe in recent months by taxi industry associations against the San Francisco-based company. Taxi drivers around the world consider Uber unfairly bypasses local licensing and safety regulations by using the internet to put drivers in touch with passengers. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/Files (GERMANY - Tags: BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT CRIME LAW TRANSPORT)

More trouble seems to be brewing for taxi aggregator Uber in India. The Gurugram regional transport department has served a notice, the second in a week, to the Indian arm of the San Francisco-based firm for plying two-wheeler/bike taxis with white number plates, which violates the Motor Vehicles Act.

The notices were sent to Uber India head Amit Jain, Delhi head Gagan Bhatia and founder Travis Kalanick. Uber declined to respond to a BusinessLine query on this.

Meanwhile, Bhushan Kumar, Assistant Secretary at Gurugram’s Regional Transport Authority, said, “It is illegal to run any vehicle with a white number plate on a commercial basis. We sent them a second notice on Monday; if they don’t respond in two days, we will start legal proceedings.”

Uber, which launched its bike taxis in Bengaluru and Gurugram simultaneously in March to take on rival Ola, suspended its two-wheeler operations in Bengaluru after the Karnataka government came down on both Ola and Uber. However, both are plying in Gurugram at the moment.

“The regional transport department has seized about 50 bikes, but 80 are still plying,” said a source.

An Ola spokesperson said the company is compliant with all the rules and doesn’t allow any white number-plated bike to list on its platform.

According to sources, Uber is preparing to aggregate cabs with white number plates in Delhi-NCR –– as it does in San Francisco, where the laws allow it. However, in India it is illegal.

BusinessLine has a copy of the Terms and Conditions document that Uber asks its partners (bike owners) to sign. The document states categorically that the two-wheeler ride is completely private; Uber is not a party to it and has no responsibility in case of any untoward incident.

Uber determines the fare and allows passengers to pay cash or through the Paytm wallet; the entire fare goes to the driver. Uber doesn’t charge drivers, who typically hail from poor socio-economic backgrounds. Instead, sources say, it gives bike owners ₹50-100 as incentive per ride, evidently to disrupt the business of other players.

Published on June 7, 2016 18:26