The Karnataka High Court, on Friday, refused to suspend a single judge’s order requiring bike taxi services to stop operating until the state government creates rules under the Motor Vehicles Act.A division bench, led by Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar, issued notices to the state government and others, setting the next hearing for June 24, 2025, and asked all parties to submit responses by June 20.
The appeals were filed by ANI Technologies Private Limited (Ola), Uber India Systems Private Limited, Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd (Rapido), and others, challenging a single judge’s April 2, 2025 ruling.
Justice B Shyam Prasad ordered all bike taxi operations to stop within six weeks, a deadline later extended to June 15, 2025. This means bike taxi services are expected to halt in Karnataka from June 16, 2025.Rapido argued that stopping bike taxis would impact over 6 lakh livelihoods in Karnataka, with 75% of its riders depending on the platform as their main income, earning about ₹35,000 monthly. The company also said it paid over ₹700 crore to captains and ₹100 crore in GST in Bengaluru.The court rejected the appellants’ request to continue operations until the appeals are heard, noting the state government’s decision not to create rules for bike taxis. Justice Rao stated that interim relief could have been considered if the state was working on rules, but not when it has decided against it.In 2022, the petitioners asked the court to allow motorcycles to be registered as transport vehicles and permit bike taxi aggregation. An interim order then prevented the state from taking action against them.However, the April 2, 2025, ruling dismissed their petitions, referencing a 2019 expert committee report on bike taxis’ effects on traffic and safety. It also directed the state to create rules within three months, which the state has refused to do.Transport Department Secretary NV Prasad confirmed that no rules for bike taxis will be made and no discussions with stakeholders have occurred. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy did not comment before the June 15 deadline, while Commissioner Yogeesh AM stated that personal two-wheelers cannot legally be used as bike taxis without a policy.
