Days after the controversy emerged over the plying of app-based taxi services, following a woman passenger’s rape in an Uber cab, the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) washed its hands off the fuss, saying that regulation of taxi services was a “State subject.”
“We have made the laws, which have clear provisions for regulating all taxi services and now it is up to the States to implement them. Such services are expected to proliferate in the coming times. Regularising them and regulating them is the State’s mandate and the Centre can’t do much about it,” said a senior official from the Ministry of Roads and Transport.
“We are in the final stages of drafting the Motor Vehicles Act and will be sending it to the Cabinet for approval by next week. It has no changes in the rent-a-cab scheme. Finer rules are to be made and implemented by the State,” he said.
The official said that it was not the Ministry’s prerogative to ban any taxi service. Even the “illegality” of such services, has to be established by the State and necessary action to be taken against the services is also the domain of the State.
Meanwhile, four States — Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Telangana — said that they would ban these app-based services, which call themselves “aggregator firms” and are run by operators.
These States say that taxi aggregators such as Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure, unlike radio cabs, are unlicensed and therefore, illegal. In their defense, the firms insist, they are legal and there is insufficient understanding of their business.
While Delhi has announced the ban on the plying of app-based taxi services, infighting has begun between the Transport Department and the traffic officials with both passing the buck and both failing to ban these cabs. Meanwhile, the operators — Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure — have decided to make a representation to the Ministries of Road and Transport, Home and Urban Development to plead their case.
The operators say that they have begun the process of adding additional layers of tracking systems in all cabs, by getting Global Positioning Systems (GPS) installed. They say they have also initiated the process of thorough background verifications of all drivers and their vehicles working on their platforms. They say they will also meet State officials to discuss the issues of taxi licensing and registrations.
Although, the Ministry of Roads and Transport has disassociated itself from the controversy, with Minister Nitin Gadkari rejecting banning cab services, but if States have their way, close to 50,000 drivers may be affected.