The Karnataka High Court isn’t ready to roll with bike taxis just yet. A Division Bench on Friday declined to pause an earlier ruling that ordered all such services to grind to a halt unless the State gets its act together and drafts a clear policy for regulating two-wheeled public transport.
This legal gear shift came from Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar, who decided not to interfere—for now—with a single-judge order that effectively told bike taxi operators to pack up unless Karnataka says otherwise.
The Bench made it clear: had the State said it was working on policy reforms but running late, there might’ve been room to consider a stay. But Karnataka’s position was firm—the State isn’t interested in permitting bike taxis at all. That closed the door on any temporary relief.
“We’re aware this affects livelihoods and public convenience,” the Court acknowledged. Still, they’re sticking to the rulebook.
It all started with a ruling on April 2, when Justice B Shyam Prasad ordered bike taxis off the roads within six weeks, unless the State chose to legalize and regulate them. That deadline was later nudged to June 15 after companies like Rapido, Uber, and ANI Technologies (OLA’s parent firm) pleaded for a breather.
But now that very April order is under challenge. OLA filed an appeal on June 11, Uber on June 2. Both want the green light to continue—or at least a yellow light till the court fully hears the matter on June 24.
Senior Advocate Dhyan Chinnappa argued that the existing Motor Vehicles Act already makes space for two-wheelers to function as transport vehicles. “The law doesn’t need new rules. Two-wheelers are ‘motor cabs’ under the current definition,” he insisted.
But Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty wasn’t having it. “Then why not trucks as taxis too?” he retorted sharply, accusing the companies of running bike taxis for years under the shelter of interim court orders—with no permits.
“For five years, they’ve been operating without a legal nod,” Shetty said, brushing off requests for interim relief. “That’s the problem,” he added, when Chinnappa pointed out the services had been running for four years.
In the end, the High Court didn’t press pause on the ban. Instead, it issued formal notice to the State and gave it until June 20 to file its side of the story. All eyes now on June 24, when the case returns to court—and the future of bike taxis in Karnataka could get its final verdict or another twist in the tale.