The Karnataka Government has taken its case to the Supreme Court after the Karnataka High Court overturned the ban on bike taxi services. The appeal targets ANI Technologies and other cab aggregators and is awaiting a hearing date at the apex court. The High Court’s ruling emphasized that the State cannot refuse permits based solely on the vehicle being a motorcycle.
A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C. M. Joshi issued the judgment while addressing appeals from taxi aggregators like Ola, Uber, and Rapido. This decision overturned a previous order from April 2025 by a single judge, which had called for a halt to bike taxi operations until the State established a comprehensive regulatory framework. The court had highlighted the necessity of a legal structure for bike taxi services to operate.
Cab aggregators and driver associations contested the single-judge ruling, arguing that the restriction had negative effects on their livelihoods. The Division Bench, in response to these concerns, deemed the prohibition of motorcycles as contract carriages an unreasonable limitation on the right to trade and profession under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution. It clarified that motorcycles are classified as “transport vehicles” under the Motor Vehicles Act and thus should not be excluded from permit considerations for taxis.
While acknowledging the State’s power to regulate bike taxi operations and set conditions under Section 74(2) of the Act, the Court stressed that rejecting applications solely due to the vehicle being a motorcycle is not permissible.
