Bombay HC directs Centre, State to submit affidavit on implementation of cab aggregator rules

Bombay High Court issues notices to government on safety measures for Ola and Uber passengers, PIL hearing scheduled.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (December 18, 2024) issued notices to the Central government and the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit within three weeks pointing out the steps taken by the government in implementing the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020 for the safety of passengers commuting in aggregators vehicles such as Ola and Uber.  

A Division Bench of judges comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Amitoj Inder Singh, a professional squash player. Raising concerns about passenger safety and security in vehicles operated by transport aggregators, the petitioner cited his own personal experience from April 2018 when he was attacked by a driver from one of the aggregator cabs.  

Claiming he sustained injuries, and that the aggregator cab service could not take any action but remove the driver from the platform, the petitioner’s advocates Wesley Menezes, Ayaan Bhattacharya and Steven Anthony urged the State to form stronger safety measures to prevent such attacks. Mr. Menezes also said that aggregators should be held accountable for criminal acts committed by their drivers as there have been numerous such incidents happening across the country.  

Mr. Wesley argued that the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2020, issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways are not enough to ensure passenger safety as they lack binding compliance measures and there are no laws or regulations that make aggregators criminally liable for their driver partners actions. To ensure passenger safety, the aggregators cabs must implement regulatory mechanisms that includes the background verification of the drivers, installation of 360-degree CCTV cameras in every aggregator cabs, real-time GPS tracking, incident reporting portals and upfront risk disclaimers for passengers using the services, the petition said.  

Additional Public Prosecutor Poornima Kantharia submitted that the rules of licensing system are still being implemented as per the previous order (passed on March 7, 2022) and objections have been sought from public. In the previous order, the High Court has directed all the cab aggregators to get licenses under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act and the 2020 Aggregators Guidelines. The Court had also directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit on the steps taken to comply with the Court’s directive.  

Hearing the argument, the Bench asked Ms. Kantharia to file a compliance affidavit and kept the matter for further hearing on January 29, 2025.