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The Bombay High Court directed Ola, Uber and other cab aggregators on Monday to apply for a license from the Maharashtra state government under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act and Motor Vehicle Aggregators Guidelines of 2020 (Guidelines) before March 16.
‘Complete lawlessness’
A Bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Vinay Joshi observed that these aggregators, operating in Maharashtra without valid licenses, were an instance of “complete lawlessness.” The Bench, however, did not prohibit such aggregators who did not have a license from operating at the moment.
The High Court further directed the Maharashtra government to allow and guide all regional transport authorities across the state to be the licensing authority to grant said licenses.
The HC said that if and once the license is rejected, an appeal can be filed before the appellate authority; in the meantime, such applying aggregators would not be permitted to carry on further activities in the state.
The Bench directed that in matters of grievances, the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) be the appellate authority.
The High Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by one Savina Crasto against transport aggregators, alleging a lack of a consumer grievance-redressal mechanism to resolve complaints against Uber.
While Uber and Ola did not respond to BusinessLine’s query, sources at one of the companies said that this was a good move by the Bombay High Court.
“Said issue was being addressed by the Central government, which had later asked the states to issue policies and guidelines. This is a positive step, and it will help aggregators streamline their processes. Not only that, it will also stop friction between associations, drivers, and the aggregators at least on this front.”
The Central government had issued the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, meant to regulate such cabs. Until now, those in the state were operating on the basis of permits issued to them under Maharashtra City Taxi Rules 2017.
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