After Bombay HC rap, Rapido shuts down bike taxi services in Maharashtra

After the Bombay High Court directed Rapido to suspend all its services in Maharashtra by 1 pm Friday for not having the required licences, the bike taxi aggregator informed the court it has complied with the order and its app is now inoperative in the state, Live Law reported.

Rapido had challenged the Maharashtra government’s refusal to grant it licence to operate two-wheeler bike taxis in the state. The Maharashtra government had reportedly told the aggregator that the state has not yet formulated a policy to allow bike taxis and that there was no fare structure policy for the same.

When the court was informed that Rapido doesn’t have license to operate any of the services (bike taxi, autorickshaw and food delivery), a division bench of Justices GS Patel and SG Dige told the company it would dismiss the petition with costs if they refused to shut down their services by 1 pm. The court has asked rapido to suspend the services till January 20.

Later, Rapido informed the court it has complied with its order.

Earlier, the court had asked the Maharashtra government to seriously consider a proposal for licensing bike taxis.

Appearing for the government, advocate general Birendra Saraf, had told the court on Tuesday that at present bike taxis are not allowed to ply as the government has not issued any policy or guidelines for the same.

The AG also told the court that a committee has been set up to explore the formulation of guidelines for bike taxis in the state. Further, prosecution against entities like Uber who are operating bike taxis has been initiated, he said.

The court then told the government that it “cannot keep the issue hanging over the fire and has to take a decision immediately.”