The operations of bike taxi services provided by Rapido and Uber in Delhi have been put on hold by the Supreme Court. This decision comes after the Delhi High Court had previously instructed the Delhi government not to take any coercive action against these bike taxi aggregators until specific guidelines for granting licenses to such aggregators are officially announced.
The present appeal stems from the aforementioned situation. The issue emerged when the Delhi government released a public notice in February stating that bike taxis are prohibited in the national capital. Additionally, it was stated that two-wheelers with non-transport (private) registration engaging in purely commercial operations would be violating the Motor Vehicles Act and its associated regulations.
The transport department emphasized that app-based aggregators must cease their services immediately, or they would face a penalty of ₹1 lakh. Rapido challenged the notices and the constitutional validity of the Delhi Motor Vehicle Rules in the High Court. However, the High Court rejected Rapido’s plea, affirming the decision of the Maharashtra government, which had already denied Rapido a license as a two-wheeler bike taxi aggregator.
Rapido subsequently appealed the High Court’s order to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court also denied granting any relief to Rapido.
