Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to relevant state authorities in response to a petition filed by unions representing auto-rickshaw drivers. The petition objects to the issuance of licences to private cars used for ride-hailing services in the city, even though these vehicles are not registered as taxis.

The petition, submitted by the Auto Rickshaw Chalak Welfare Association and the Smart City Auto Drivers’ Union, urges the court to direct the transport department and the Ahmedabad Regional Transport Office (RTO) to stop issuing such licences to private vehicles that are not officially classified as transport vehicles, yet are operating under platforms like Ola, Uber, Rapido, and Jugnu.

According to the unions, the Motor Vehicles Act mandates that a vehicle must be registered as a transport vehicle in order to receive a taxi licence. However, authorities have been allowing aggregators to operate vehicles without such registration. The petitioners have requested the court to instruct officials to prohibit the use of private vehicles for commercial ride-hailing purposes and ensure that only legally registered transport vehicles operate in the city, in accordance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and associated rules.

The unions also argue that the presence of these unregistered ride-hailing vehicles contributes to increased traffic congestion and environmental pollution. It is worth noting that the Transport Dept. in a press release issued in September 2023, had declared the use of non-transport vehicles (those with white number plates) for passenger services as illegal. In a related action, the RTO served a show-cause notice to Rapido on January 4 and suspended its licence for 30 days for violating this rule. DeshGujarat