Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday told the authorities not to take any coercive action against tourist taxi operators. The court passed the order following a batch of appeals against the recent order of a single judge bench which had upheld most of the provisions of the Karnataka on-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016 framed by the state government.
The court has directed that the state government not to take action against the operators plying taxis after obtaining licence under Section 88 (9) of the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 and till the appeals are disposed of, they shall not take action under the new rules.
Among several directions, the single judge bench held that All-India Tourist Vehicles can carry only tourists and not commuters. He also ordered that every taxi registered with the respective online cab aggregator in the state are directed to have ‘panic button’ installed in the cabs for the safety of the passengers, within a month, and several other directions.
The single bench had even struck down some of the guidelines which gave the state unbridled and uncontrolled power to access to the personal information about the passengers, while observing that such unfettered power is likely to be abused by the state.
Relief to Kheny:
The High court on Wednesday dismissed an election petition filed against Bidar South MLA Ashok Kheny by social activist T J Abraham challenging his election to the Assembly and seeking his disqualification. Abraham had contended that Kheny was not a registered voter in the electoral roll of Bidar South constituency.
