Rapido hits a roadblock: Bombay HC orders shutdown till Jan 20 for lack of licence

(Image: Rapido/ Instagram)

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed Rapido, the bike taxi and auto aggregator, to shut operations effective immediately as the startup is yet to receive a licence to operate from the Maharashtra government.

“The app will be suspended for all services by one PM. We require confirmation by 1.15pm (Friday),” the court said.

Rapido’s delivery and bike taxi services as well as auto-rickshaw services do not have licences from the government.

However, lawyers representing Rapido argued that the startup has duly applied for the licences and was yet to receive permission from the state government.

Reiterating that the licence is in the application stage which itself proves the illegality of operations, the division bench headed by Justices GS Patel and Justice SG Dige also questioned the state government for not framing the policy to run bike taxis.

The court has directed Rapido to suspend operations till January 20 after which the hearings will continue.

Rapido did not respond to Moneycontrol's queries at the time of publishing.

This is a double whammy for Rapido as recently the startup has been facing issues in Karnataka as well. There’s been an ongoing wrangling over commission charges and licences of app-based auto aggregators, including Rapido, Ola and Uber with Karnataka’s transport department.