Rapido moves Supreme Court against Bombay HC order to halt operations in Maharashtra

The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear the plea of ​​Rapido, the bicycle taxi and auto aggregator, on January 23, challenging the order of the Bombay High Court which ordered it to immediately stop its activities in the Maharashtra as it does not have a license to operate a cycle taxi or rickshaw. services.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud agreed to list the case for Monday after it was mentioned before it.

Lead attorney Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the matter for an urgent hearing and said the company had thousands of employees.

The Bombay High Court last week ordered Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited, which operates bicycle taxi aggregator Rapido, to immediately shut down its operations as the startup has yet to receive an operating license from the government of Maharashtra. As a result, the bicycle taxi aggregator Rapido had to close all its services until January 20.

The High Court has arrested a Pune-based cycle taxi aggregator for operating without obtaining a license from the Maharashtra government and ordered it to suspend services immediately.

Roppen Transportation has petitioned the High Court against a communication addressed to them by the Maharashtra government on December 29, 2022, refusing to grant them a bicycle taxi aggregator license.

The government cited the reason why there was no state policy on bicycle taxi licensing and there was no fare structure policy.

The state government told the High Court that a committee had been set up to explore formulating guidelines for cycle taxis in the state.

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