Karnataka HC gives govt one month to decide on bike taxi policy

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday gave the state government a month to decide whether to frame a bike taxi policy, noting that there are “lives at stake in this matter.”

A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Joshi was hearing appeals by Rapido, Uber and Ola against a single-judge order that barred bike taxi operations in Karnataka unless specific rules were issued under the Motor Vehicles Act.

The court declined to grant interim relief but said the state should not “put everything into freeze” while a decision is pending.

The bench observed that permitting cars and autorickshaws as taxis while excluding motorcycles could raise constitutional concerns under Articles 14 (equality before law) and 19(1)(g) (right to carry on trade). It added that the absence of regulation cannot automatically mean prohibition.

Summarising the submissions by the platforms, the court recorded, “A blanket prohibition is unconstitutional since bike taxis are a legitimate business. In the absence of regulations, the business cannot be treated as illegal and should be allowed. The ban is therefore arbitrary, unreasonable, and violative of Articles 14 and 19(1)(g).”

Bike taxis have long been a point of debate in Karnataka. The state government has resisted legalising them, citing safety and traffic concerns, even as 13 other states including Delhi and Telangana have already put regulations in place.

In July, the Centre revised its Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines to let states authorise bike taxis through permits, with rules such as capping surge fares at twice the base fare and allowing private motorcycles for commercial use. States were given three months to adopt these rules, but Karnataka has yet to act, leaving bike taxi services in a grey zone.

Meanwhile, a Moneycontrol report said that Rapido and Uber resumed bike taxi services in Bengaluru on August 21.