HC asks Karnataka govt. to hold one more round of talks with taxi aggregators to resolve issues on autorickshaw services

Ola and Uber have moved the court questioning Transport Department’s Oct 11 order; court says govt will have to take care of interests of all stakeholders

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed the State government to hold one more round of talks with the app-based transport aggregators on the issues related to the continuation of autorickshaws under the app-based services, and the fare and the service charges to be collected for such operations.

Observing that the State government will have to take care of the interests of the general public, the app-based aggregators, and the vehicle operators offering service through the aggregators, the court said it would continue hearing the petitions filed by the two aggregators on Friday based on the outcome of the talks.

Justice M.G.S. Kamal issued the directions after the State Advocate-General accepted the court’s suggestion of holding another round of meeting (on Thursday afternoon) with the aggregators to “make an effort to reach a consensus, maybe on an ad hoc basis, on the contentious issues”.

The Bench was hearing the petitions filed by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., which is offering taxi aggregator service through Ola app, and Uber India Services Pvt. Ltd., which is offering services under Uber app.

The petitioners have questioned the Transport Department’s October 11 order asking them to stop offering auto services on their apps and directing them not to collect fares in excess of what has been fixed by the government under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Both the petitioner-aggregators have questioned the legality of the claim of the government that the Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016, allows only offering of cars through their apps and not autorickshaws.

While denying the allegation that they are charging fares in excess of what is permitted under law, the petitioners have said they are lawfully collecting 5% GST on the fare amount (collected on behalf of the drivers), and GST at 18% on the service charges levied on the customers for the convenience, comfort and safety transport, which are all value-added services to the customers.