Earlier this month, the state government banned auto services following several complaints about exorbitant fares charged by these companies.
The Karnataka High Court has allowed transport service providers – Ola, Uber and Rapido – to continue their autorickshaw services in the state and further permitted them to levy 10% additional charge, and the applicable GST, over and above the fares fixed by the government.
The Court has ordered the state government to fix the fare for the three-wheeler transport services offered by the aggregators within 15 days. Earlier this month, the state government banned auto services following several complaints about exorbitant fares charged by these companies.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, that cited the Karnataka transport department’s order earlier this month, “The transport regulations are violated by the aggregators who are running auto services through their apps. We also received complaints about not following the price cap that was fixed by the government.”
“We were informed that the higher charges are being collected from the passengers. Therefore, the auto services must be discontinued and aggregators must submit a report to the government on overprice allegations,” it added. Ola and Uber, in separate petitions, challenged the Karnataka government’s auto rickshaw service ban on taxi apps in the high court earlier this month.
According to another report by Hindustan Times, the transport service providers charges Rs 60 as the base fare for two km which is double of what offline charges) and then added ₹40 convenience fee, taking the minimum fare to ₹100. The state government, on the other hand, mandated Rs 30 as the base fare for a minimum of 2 km and Rs 15 per additional km.
Starting last Saturday, Uber has cut the minimum auto fare to Rs 30 from Rs 100.
