RTO files case against Rapido for operating illegal bike taxi services in Mumbai

The Pune Regional Transport Authority had rejected Rapido’s application in December 2022. REPRESENTATION PIC

The Regional Transport Office (RTO) has filed a case at Nehru Nagar police station against Roppen Transport Pvt Ltd (Rapido) for allegedly operating illegal bike taxi services in Mumbai, despite a government ban. According to the police, Motor Vehicle Inspectors Manisha Ashok More and Vikas Sampat Lohkare conducted a decoy operation late on Tuesday night in Nehru Nagar and Kurla.

Using the office driver Shankar Babar, they booked three bike rides from Nehru Nagar to Sion Hospital through the Rapido app to test the legality of the service. Subsequently, three vehicles reached as per the bookings, and they were fined R10,000 under Sections 66 and 192 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which mandate that all transport vehicles have a valid permit to operate in public places, and Section 142 (permanent disablement).

RTO officials allege that Rapido continues to operate without permission from the Transport Department, violating the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020, and Section 66 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which prohibits private vehicles from carrying passengers for hire. It also raises passenger safety concerns, especially for women, as drivers are not subject to character verification or security checks.

The complaint references previous court actions, noting that the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Pune rejected Rapido's application in December 2022, the Bombay High Court ordered closure of the app in January 2023, and the Supreme Court dismissed its Special Leave Petition in 2023. Despite this, the company is allegedly earning revenue through unauthorised operations, the RTO said.

The case has been registered under multiple laws to cover both transport violations, criminal offences and the IT Act. Under the Motor Vehicles Act, the sections invoked address carrying of passengers without a license (Sections 66, 192A), obligations of aggregators (Section 93), producing driving licences (Section 130), general penalties for violating transport rules (Section 177), falsification of documents (Section 193), and facilitating illegal transport activities (Section 197). Section 318(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has also been applied for cheating and defrauding the public, along with Section 66(D) of the IT Act for cheating by personation using a computer or communication device.

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No of Rapido riders who showed up during RTO operation