Times continue to be tough for Uber to operate in India’s capital city New Delhi. The Delhi Government, citing non-compliance with many of state’s newest ‘City Taxi Scheme’, has yet again rejected Uber’s plea to obtain a license to function in Delhi.
This license rejection has happened with Uber twice now, in a span of four months. Earlier in June, Delhi Government had rejected the plea, citing deficiencies in the documents and non-compliance. Uber was also asked to submit a sworn affidavit, that it would comply with ban imposed on it — which the US based cab hailing app failed to submit.
It then asked for an extension till August 24th, which was provided. But the company still failed on that end. In fact, multiple users have reported that Uber was still functioning, despite the ban, sparking confusion within commuters as to whether the cab-hailing app is actually operational or not.
However, Uber isn’t the only one to have met this fate. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Delhi Government had rejected a similar application by Uber’s fiercest local rival Ola Cabs, citing non-compliances with Delhi’s Taxi rules.
Talking to Economic Times, a Government official said,
On the request of the taxi firm, we accepted it, but company officials did not turn up on the given date (August 24) for hearing. We also asked Uber to submit an affidavit stating that they are complying with the government’s ban imposed on it and other laid-down rules, but it also did not do the same.
There are several rules like installation of digital fare metres, operation through government approved fare structure, GPS and PSV badge, but Uber was not following these rules.
Another major non compliance by Uber, is its continued running of diesel cabs. In 2001, owing to massive air pollution levels within the city, the Supreme Court had ruled that all commercial vehicles plying in the city of Delhi should run on clean fuel.
Ola however, did change towards using non- CNG cabs only when a passenger is travelling to outside the city. The company uses CNG cabs when a commuter rides within Delhi.
We’ve asked Uber for a comment, and will update this story once we get an update.
UPDATE :
An Uber spokesperson tells us that the company hasn’t received an official notification from the Delhi Government as of now. Here’s the full statement,
We haven’t received any official notification yet. Uber remains committed to serving the Delhi community and we continue to work closely with the Delhi authorities to address any concerns they have.
