Bike taxis were allowed in 2021 as remedy for last-mile connectivity issue and to generate public employment, bike taxi association argues in Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka government allowed bike taxis in 2021 by way of ‘e-bike taxi scheme’ as a solution to the bottleneck in the last-mile connectivity issue existing in the city’ public transport system and to generate public employment, it was contended before the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday on behalf of the Bike Taxi Welfare Association.

These arguments were made before a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice V. Kameswar Rao and Justice C.M. Joshi during the hearing on the appeals filed by the association along with technology transport aggregators Ola, Uber and Rapido and a few owners of two-wheelers.

The appeals were filed against the April 2 verdict of a single judge, who had held that Ola, Uber, and Rapido cannot offer bike taxis on their platform unless the State government notifies relevant guidelines under Section 93 of the MV Act.

Not study-based

Withdrawal of the ‘e-bike taxi scheme’ in 2014 was not on a study-based decision but it was owing to ‘political reasons’ citing law and order situation allegedly arising due to continuous confrontation between the drivers of autorickshaws/maxi-cabs and the riders of bike taxis, and the bike taxi scheme lacking protection to women commuters, contended advocate Shashank Garg appearing for the association.

The government should have taken remedial measure if law and order situation had arisen due to confrontation between the drivers instead of depriving the owners/riders of two wheelers from their fundamental right to operate their two-wheelers as taxis by registering them as transport vehicles in terms of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act and the Karnataka MV Rules, Mr. Garg argued.

Stating that bike taxis are not any luxury service, Mr. Garg pointed out that not allowing bike taxis to operate in the State will impact the livelihood of 6 lakh people, who were operating as bike taxi riders, and their families.

On the claim of the State government that it had taken a ‘policy decision’ not to allow bike taxis based on a 2019 report of a committee, which recommended against allowing bike taxis in Bengaluru, Mr. Garg contended that such a claim cannot be accepted as the government itself had allowed bike taxi scheme in 2021 ‘debunking the recommendation of the committee.’

A vacuum

Though the government is claiming that it had taken a ‘policy decision’ not to allow bike taxis, Mr. Garg said that there is in fact a ‘vacuum’ as there is neither any policy nor executive order that has been notified by the State government spelling out reasons for not allowing two wheelers to be used as taxis.

Further hearing on the appeals was adjourned till July 2 as the Bench is yet to hear the arguments on behalf of the companies operating aggregator services.