The Madras High Court last Thursday banned Rapido which provides bike-sharing services. The order stated that the ban shall be in place in Tamil Nadu till the state government formulates necessary regulations in this regard.
According to the order passed by Justice G Jayachandran, the court has refused to allow Google Inc and Apple India Private Limited reinstate Rapido bike taxi app on its app stores. The court has also directed Rapido to not offer its services in Tamil Nadu till the state government puts appropriate regulations in place regarding bike taxis.
The case
Rapido had petitioned the Madras High Court after the Chennai Commissioner of Police ordered Google and Apple to take down the bike sharing app from their mobile application services. This since the app violated provisions of law in Tamil Nadu.
While Rapido contented that it was merely carrying out an innovative business model and lack of regulations cannot be a reason to punish its business, the state government maintained that two-wheelers cannot operate as commercial vehicles and that it was in the process of framing rules regarding the operation of aggregators of call taxi, bike taxi and carpooling.
Rapido is an app that connects commuters who are seeking a ride to ones that have an empty seat on their two wheelers. It essentially connects commuters with riders going in the same direction for a fee. Anybody can register as a Rapido captain if they have a two-wheeler and a valid driving license. Once registered, the company claims to verify the documents and adds them to its database of captains, who will then be allotted rides based on the route they take.
This was flagged by the Chennai police as illegal, since two-wheelers are not permitted to operate as commercial vehicles in Tamil Nadu.
What the laws in Tamil Nadu say
The Motor Vehicles Act 1988 governs all the aspects of road transport vehicles in India. Every state is allowed to frame their own rules to monitor and regulate the motor vehicles in their state. Accordingly, Tamil Nadu also has its own set of rules governing motor vehicles over and above the Motor Vehicles Act at the national level.
Motor vehicles are broadly classified as transport and non-transport vehicles. Loosely put, transport vehicles are those which engage in commercial operations (buses, trucks, goods carriages etc) and are generally identified with a yellow number plate. Non-transport vehicles are those that ply for non-commercial purposes, or for private purposes. These are generally identified with registration plates in colours other than yellow. While commercial vehicles are subject to rules of GST and other regulations (insurance, drivers licensing, permits etc) to operate, private vehicles are exempt from taxation rules and specific licensing.
As per these rules, two-wheelers in Tamil Nadu (motor cycles) are classified only as non-transport vehicles. This means that bikes and scooters in Tamil Nadu cannot operate as a commercial vehicle like a cab or auto.
While Ola and Uber also operate taxi services on a similar mechanism, the main bone of contention seems to be that cars are allowed to run as ‘transport vehicles’ whereas two-wheelers are not allowed to do so, yet.