Supreme Court Says No To Bike Taxis In Delhi For Now A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal granted liberty to the two aggregators to request urgent hearing of their pleas by the Delhi HC

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the high court order that essentially allowed bike-taxi aggregators Rapido and Uber to operate in the national capital by asking the Delhi government not to take any coercive action against them till a new policy was formulated, according to a PTI report.

A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal granted liberty to the two aggregators to request urgent hearing of their pleas by the Delhi HC. The court, however, ordered that applications for licensing of bike taxis be dealt with expeditiously once a policy is finalised by the Delhi government.

The bench, which stayed the May 26 order of the Delhi HC, also recorded the Delhi government counsel's submission that the final policy will be notified before July-end.

The top court was hearing two separate petitions by the AAP government challenging the High Court order that no coercive action should be taken against the bike-taxi aggregators until the final policy was notified.

Last month, the Delhi High Court had said that no coercive action can be taken against bike-taxi aggregators like Rapido and Uber and their users, till proper regulations were drafted by the government to monitor their operations, added the report.

"The counsel for the petitioners (Rapido) submits that policy is under active consideration. Accordingly, we hereby stay the notice and make it clear that the stay shall operate till the final policy is notified. However, once the final policy is notified, if the petitioners are still aggrieved, they are at liberty to take steps before the appropriate forum," the High Court had said.

Earlier this year, the Delhi transport department had said that bike taxis are not allowed in the capital, adding that app-based aggregators that are running personal bikes as taxis in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act will have to stop the service else they will face a challan of INR 1 lakh.

Rapido has also challenged a show cause notice issued to it by the city government in that context, saying it is in violation of various fundamental and constitutional rights, and also of the principle of natural justice.

"The direction issued by the transport department under the impugned notice is ex-facie arbitrary and passed without following due process under law, without providing any reasons for such prohibition," the plea said.

Furthermore, the report stated that a blanket ban on the petitioner's services impacts the lives and livelihood of a huge number of vehicle owners and riders as well as a substantial number of daily commuters.