Last week, the Bombay High Court banned Rapido’s services in Maharashtra till January 20.
Rapido moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday against the Bombay High Court ruling to stop its operations in India’s western state of Maharashtra. The apex court agreed to hear the bike taxi aggregator’s plea on January 23.
Appearing for Rapido, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that the matter is of urgent hearing as the company has thousands of employees at stake. The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who agreed to the next hearing on Monday.
Last week, the Bombay High Court directed Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited, operator of Rapido, to shut down all its services in the state. The decision came after the company failed to disclose material facts and show a license to operate.
The ban will be in place till January 20. The High Court asked the company to ban its services including two-wheeler passenger service, two-wheeler parcel service, and auto service. Its mobile app within the state was also suspended.
The state government told the Bombay High Court that presently there is no licensing regime in place for bike taxis in the state. Also, there is no fare structure in place for the same. The High Court had asked the Maharashtra government to consider the benefits of two-wheeler transport in the state and frame licensing policy for such aggregators.
