Delhi rejects application for licence by Uber and 2 others

In a major decision, Delhi government today rejected fresh applications for licence by US-based taxi booking firm Uber and two other such service providers -- Ola and TaxiForSure.

Top Delhi government officials said the applications of the three taxi aggregators were rejected for not filing undertakings stating they were complying with a ban imposed on them. The three operators had filed the applications under the modified Radio Taxi Scheme introduced five months ago.

On May 28, Uber and Ola cabs were asked to provide details like number of vehicles and addresses of their drivers to ensure regularisation of their services but the two operators did not comply with it, Transport Minister Gopal Rai said.

"We have continuously been asking Uber, Ola Cabs and TaxiForSure to give a affidavit since March this year, stating that they are complying ban order imposed on them in December last year, but they did not do the same. We have today rejected their applications for licence," said a top official.

Unfazed by the rejection of its application, Uber said it will file a fresh application for the same.

"While the rejection of our application for a licence under the amended Radio Taxi scheme is unfortunate, we look forward to file a fresh application under a new set of guidelines that are due to be issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways under Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act," Uber Delhi GM Gagan Bhatia said in a statement.

He added that once these guidelines are issued, the company will engage in "constructive dialogue" with the Delhi government to seek necessary permissions.

All app-based cab service were banned in the national capital after a driver of Uber, the US-based online cab service provider, was accused of raping a 27-year-old financial consultant woman passenger in December last year.

According to government, Resource Expert India, a subsidiary of Uber, M/s ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd on the banner of Ola Cabs and TaxiForSure had applied for fresh licence to operate their taxis in Delhi in February-March.

The Delhi government in March had approached the Centre to block web-based apps of Uber, Ola Cabs and TaxiForSure alleging that these companies were not complying with its ban order imposed on them.