Karnataka HC lifts bike taxi ban, allows state to impose conditions

Bengaluru: In a major development, the Karnataka High Court on Friday lifted the ban on bike taxi services in the state, allowing operators to resume services.

The court also permitted the state government to impose necessary conditions in accordance with the law.

A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Joshi allowed a batch of appeals filed by cab aggregators ANI Technologies (Ola), Uber, Rapido and others, challenging an earlier single-judge order that had directed bike taxi services to be halted in Karnataka until the state framed specific rules under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Quashing the April 2025 single-judge order that imposed the ban, holding that motorcycles used for bike taxi services fall within the definition of "transport vehicles" under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the court, consequently, held that the state government cannot refuse or deny permits solely on the ground that motorcycles are not transport vehicles.

The bench observed that bike taxi operators are entitled to apply for contract carriage permits to operate motorcycles as bike taxis. While the state government is free to examine all aspects while considering such applications, permits cannot be denied merely because the vehicle in question is a motorcycle.

"Taxi owners are at liberty to file applications for registration of the vehicle as a transport vehicle. We direct the state government to consider such applications for registration of the owner of the vehicle as a transport vehicle and grant permission to operate as contract carriages," it said.