The Delhi High Court today reserved its order on cab service provider Ola’s plea against a single-judge’s direction to “strictly enforce” transport department’s January 1 directive by which the operation of app-based taxi services was banned in the national capital.
ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, which provides app-based taxi services under the brand of Ola, has challenged the single-judge’s July 29 order, saying he had overlooked the Supreme Court’s orders on the kind of taxis that can run on city’s roads.
The company told a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath that the apex court had clarified it has not prohibited running of taxis, which are Euro II compliant or follow even better emission standards and that it has not ordered conversion to CNG.
The court reserved its order after hearing arguments put forth by all stakeholders.
Ola, represented by senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, argued that the apex court had only imposed a restriction with respect to age of vehicles as it said no 15-year-old commercial vehicles shall run in Delhi, and not with regard to fuel used by them.
He said other taxi organisations, which are not app-based, come under Radio Taxi Scheme and they own the cabs they operate, while Ola does not own the vehicles that run under their brand and only connects the taxis with customers.
The Delhi government, represented by Additional Standing Counsel Naushad Ahmed Khan, said the All India Tourist Permit (AITP) vehicles that operate under Ola brand are meant for tourist destinations and not for point-to-point service in the city.
The counsel said going to office or restaurant is not tourism and as long as the company provides point-to-point to service inside the city, it would have to submit to their jurisdiction.
The Delhi government also said that Ola’s two subsidiaries, Apra and Serendipity, have submitted to its jurisdiction by applying under the Radio Taxi Scheme, which was modified in December last year, but ANI has not.
It also said ANI has neither complied with its January 1 ban order nor the high court’s July 29 decision by which it had upheld the ban and are still operating in the national capital.
Meanwhile, an association of Radio Taxi Operators told the bench that the apex court had directed the autos, taxis and buses to convert to clean fuels and, as of now, there are only three clean fuels - CNG, LPG and propane - which have also been recognised as such by the courts.
The high court’s single-judge bench had on July 29 admonished Ola for not complying with the ban imposed on it by the state government and refused to grant it any interim relief.
The court had also directed “strict” enforcement of the January 1 order, saying it has been “violated with impunity” by the company, from which it had sought an affidavit undertaking to comply with its direction.
Delhi government’s January 1, 2015, order had banned operation of app-based cab services till they complied with the guidelines of Radio Taxi Scheme of 2006 which was amended on December 26 last year.
The single-judge had refused to provide any relief to Ola, saying its plea challenging the ban order was not only “inordinately delayed” by six months, but during the period it had violated the ban with “impunity”.
The court had earlier questioned how Ola was operating in the national capital when the city government’s order banning them had not been stayed and warned of a shutdown if it thought it was above the law.
Ola has contended that it was not amenable to the Delhi government’s modified Radio Taxi Scheme as cabs contracted by it have AITPs and thus, it does not need to apply for licence to operate in the city.
It has also said as per the Supreme Court order of 1998, cabs only had to comply with Euro-II (and now Euro IV) norms and switching to CNG was not a mandatory requirement.