Aggregrator Policy For Vehicles Coming Soon, Says Delhi Minister

The Delhi government will soon roll out its aggregator policy for two-, three- and four-wheelers, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said on Monday.

Mr Gahlot's comment comes a day after the Transport department cautioned bike taxis against plying on the roads of Delhi, warning that it was a violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, that would make aggregators liable for a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

"Ref public notice by Transport department against private two-wheelers being used for carrying passengers in violation of statutory provisions.

"Aggregator policy for 2W (two-wheelers), 3W (three-wheelers) and 4W (four-wheelers) is in its final stage and will be rolled out soon helping them to apply for grant of license under the new scheme," he said in a tweet.

The use of two-wheelers for commercial purposes is in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The first offence could lead to a fine of Rs 5,000 while a second offence could incur a Rs 10,000 fine and imprisonment of up to a year, the department said in a public notice.

"It has been brought to the notice that two-wheelers having non-transport (private) registration mark/number are being used to carry passengers on hire or reward which is purely commercial operation and in violation of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and rules made thereunder.

"The... violation is a contravention of the registration condition of the vehicle which is punishable under Section 192 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, having punishment for the first offense up to Rs 5000, and for a second or subsequent offense with imprisonment which may extend to one year with fine up to Rs 10,000 beside impounding of the vehicle," read the public notice.

In addition, the driver's licence will be suspended for a minimum three months under the direction of a Supreme Court committee, it said.

"Further, it is also noticed that some digital platforms are facilitating such operations by offering booking through an app, thereby engaging themselves as an aggregator in contravention of the provision of Section 93, and shall be punishable with a fine up to Rs 1 lakh under Section 193(2) of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

"Accordingly, it is directed to immediately stop such kind of activities to avoid prosecution and penalty, etc," the Transport department notice said.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court refused to grant relief to bike taxi aggregator Rapido against the Maharashtra government's refusal to grant licence to it.

It had noted that amendments made to the Motor Vehicles Act in 2019 made it clear that aggregators cannot operate without a valid licence. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala noted that Pune's Regional Transport Office had rejected its plea for licence on December 21.

The bench said Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited (Rapido) can challenge the state government's January 19 notification which prohibited the use of "non-transport vehicle" from car pooling in Bombay High Court. It stated that the validity of the RTO's December order would stand subsumed by the subsequent wider decision of the state government.

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