E-Paper
HC stays Chandigarh admn’s instructions to Uber to stop operations
The high court bench of acting chief justice Ritu Bahri and justice Nidhi Gupta acted on the plea from Uber India Systems Private Limited, challenging Chandigarh admn’s December 1 instructions to the aggregator
The Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed UT administration’s instructions to app-based cab operator Uber to stop operations in the city.
The high court bench of acting chief justice Ritu Bahri and justice Nidhi Gupta acted on the plea from Uber India Systems Private Limited, challenging UT’s December 1 instructions to the aggregator.
As per UT, two companies, Uber and Ola, had cab aggregator licence to ply taxis in Chandigarh, but it had expired on November 4. As both companies owe the administration nearly ₹6 crore as entry tax and licence fee, their licence has not been renewed.
Both the companies have over 4,000 cabs in the city, most of which are registered in Mohali and Panchkula.
As per UT, taxis registered in Punjab and Haryana have to pay entry tax to enter Chandigarh, but the aggregator companies have not deposited it. Because of this, STA has issued reminders and notices several times.
In high court, Uber argued that UT administration issued a notification on November 2022 without following the guidelines of November 2020 issued by the Union ministry of road transport and highways.
The guidelines can only be notified after issuance of necessary notification and following the due process of inviting objections as per the Motor Vehicles Act. The company also referred to a 2020 judgment of the apex court, where it was observed that till the time draft rules are final, guidelines of 2020 can be followed.
The court, while seeking response from the administration, restrained it from taking any coercive step till the next date of hearing, December 22.
