‘No merits’: Bombay HC rejects Rapido’s plea against RTO’s refusal to let bike taxis ply in Pune

Observing that there was “no merit” in the plea, a division bench of Justices GS Patel and SG Dige rejected it. “Rapido had failed to show that the want of policy of the bike-taxi scheme was insufficient ground to reject their application for licence… It is also not correct in our view, having seen impugned order, to say that rejection was solely for want of bike or taxi guidelines…,” the bench said.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf, representing the state government, informed the court that the Maharashtra Home Department has issued a
notification on January 19, based on the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2020, prohibiting the use of non-transport vehicles for the aggregation of bike-taxis.

Saraf said that the state took the decision after an independent committee dedicated for the preparation of a comprehensive policy for bike-taxi aggregation conducted a study. After this, the notification was issued.

The December 22 order issued by RTO, Pune, included that the reason for rejection was non-compliance of requirements necessary for the authority to grant licence, and Rapido had been operating all their vehicles without such permission, Saraf submitted. Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy, for Rapido, submitted that since there were no proper guidelines, it could not comply with the same.

However, the bench noted that the Rapido earlier challenged the rejection order, stating there were no guidelines in place.

Chinoy said petitioner had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the restraint to operate services across Maharashtra, the HC may consider its plea only on the aspect of challenge to rejection by RTO, Pune. While dismissing the plea, the HC said, “We are unable to see how any aggregator like Roppen (Rapido) can lay claim or allow to operate firstly without a licence, and secondly, without complete compliance that the aggregator requires.”