Karnataka HC asked the State Government to Meet the Taxi Aggregators to Discuss the Reasonable Fare – Ola, Uber Auto ban

Case: ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd v. the State of Karnataka

The Karnataka High Court has asked the state government to meet with taxi aggregators to discuss a possible agreement on how auto rickshaw services should be charged. Justice MGS Kamal issued the direction while hearing petitions by ANI Technologies (owner of Ola) and Uber challenging the order banning auto rides through their apps.

Following several complaints by commuters, the Transport Department issued a notice to cab aggregators like Ola, Uber, and Rapido on October 6 asking them to stop providing auto rickshaw services through their apps.

The complaints alleged the apps charged ₹100 even for the first two kilometres, as opposed to the government-approved fare of ₹30, calling it an 'illegal practice'.

According to them, although they applied for a license for aggregating auto rickshaw cabs, they feared that the authorities might not consider them in a time-bound manner to prohibit them illegally.

Therefore, the petitioners sought a quashing of the notice and a directive to the respondents to not interfere with the aggregation of autorickshaws.