Get licence for low-cost service in 2 days or face action, Meru Cabs told

Trouble appears to be far from over for Meru Cabs as the transport department has given it just two days to seek licence for its low-cost service, Meru Genie, or else be ready to face action.

The company should also stop the Meru Genie service immediately until it gets the city taxi licence, the department has asserted. On Tuesday, the company’s representatives met transport officials and submitted some documents. But transport officials were less than impressed and asked the company to either apply for a licence for Meru Genie service within two days or face action for running the service illegally.

According to transport officials, Meru Cabs has the licence to operate but not its sister concern, Meru Genie, which is a cheaper cab service. On Monday evening, transport officials had conducted a surprise check on Meru Cabs’ office in Marathahalli, during which they found that Meru Genie was operating without having the requisite city taxi licence.
Joint Commissioner for Transport Narendra Holkar, who had conducted the surprise check, told Deccan Herald: “Meru officials met us today. But the documents they brought in did not justify running another cab service on the licence obtained for Meru Cabs. So, we have given them two days to fall in line and asked them to stop the Meru Genie service immediately. If they fail to do so, appropriate action will be taken against them.”

During the raid, officials had found that many Meru vehicles did not have the proper documentation such as fitness certificates, emission certificates, etc. But since Meru Cabs is registered with the transport department, officials gave it a day to produce the documents. Transport officials maintained that they had received many complaints from commuters and the public that Meru Cabs was overcharging.

But Siddharth Pahwa, the CEO of Meru Cabs Company Pvt Ltd, had termed the search “a routine inspection”, agreeing that the company wanted all illegal services to be closed down.