SC refuses to grant relief to Rapido against denial of licence in Maharashtra

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant relief to biketaxi aggregator Rapido against denial of licence to it by the Maharashtra governmentThe top court noted that amendments made to the Motor Vehicles Act in 2019 make it clear that aggregators cannot operate without a valid licenceA bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala noted that Punes Regional Transport Office RTO had rejected its plea for licence in December 21 last yearAlso read27yearold man held from Chembur for making threat call to Mumbai airportThe bench said Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited Rapido can approach the Bombay High Court challenging the notification of the state government dated January 19 which had prohibited the use of nontransport vehicle from car poolingIt stated that the validity of the order of the RTO in December last year would stand subsumed by the subsequent wider decision of the state governmentDuring the hearing senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the biketaxi aggregator said the Maharashtra government does not have a scheme for twowheelers and therefore the application for licence has been wrongly rejectedHe said certain conditions which were necessary to obtain a licence were actually impossible to achieve for the companySolicitor General Tushar Mehta along with advocates Siddharth Dharmadhikari and Abhikalp Pratap Singh appearing for the state government said State is examining whether to have twowheelers or not as taxi for safety and traffic consideration We are not saying we dont have a policyThe top court noted in its order that effect of amended provisions in the Motor Vehicles Act is that no person can engage himself as an aggregator without a licence from such authority and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by the state governmentIt said in terms of first proviso of section 93 of Motor Vehicles Act the state government while issuing the licence to an aggregator may follow such guidelines as issued by the central government and the general rule making power has been entrusted to the state governmentThe bench noted that Rapidos application for licence was rejected on the ground that it didnt comply with the terms and conditions of the states guidelines of 2020 On January 27 the top court had agreed to hear the plea of Rapido against the Bombay High Court order directing it to suspend its services in Maharashtra immediately for operating without a licence from the state governmentOn January 13 the high court had pulled up the aggregator for operating without procuring a license from the Maharashtra government and directed it to suspend the services immediatelyIt had warned Rapido to either suspend its bike taxi services immediately or the court would issue directions to state authorities to permanently bar the company from getting any licenceIt had noted that in the absence of a licence the company cannot run its services in an unregulated mannerRapido had moved the high court against a communication issued to it by the state government on December 29 2022 refusing to grant a bike taxi aggregators licenceThe state government had in its letter said it had no policy on the licensing of bike taxis nor a fare structure for themThe company had assured the high court it will suspend its services till January 20 when the court would hear the matter furtherThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever