The Delhi High Court has withdrawn the ban on the taxi aggregators, Ola and TaxiForSure to operate in the capital city. The on demand taxi services were off from the road from May this year after the Transport Department rejected their applications for radio-taxi licenses.
The court said that if the Delhi government feels that the two companies – Apra Cabs India Pvt Ltd and Serendipity Infolabs Pvt Ltd (Taxi for Sure) need to satisfy any other requirements under the modified radio-taxi scheme, then fresh communications be sent to them and they be given an opportunity of being heard.
Justice S Muralidhar said the only reason given by the transport department of Delhi government while rejecting the applications of ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd which owns both Apra Cabs and Serendipity Infolabs, was that as per some earlier orders they had to give sworn affidavits stating they were complying with the December 8, 2014, ban on such taxis.
The Delhi Police have impounded over 450 vehicles belonging to Ola, TaxiForSure and Uber since the start of June, saying they had failed to provide evidence that they were complying with a ban on their services.
The court said the reason for rejecting the license applications was invalid stating that Ola and TaxiForSure were free to submit fresh license applications and should be given an adequate hearing by the Transport Department.
