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A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal dismissed a plea on Wednesday brought forth by taxi operators and bikers challenging the 2017 court order that prohibited the issuance of taxi permits for Nainital town.
The court firmly asserted that due to the city’s sensitivity and occurrences of landslides, “the operation of bike taxis within Nainital must be curtailed”. Consequently, the court’s decision has led to a ban on taxi bikes from operating on Mall Road and Mallital area in the lake city.
The initial ban on taxi permits in Nainital city was implemented in 2017 following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Ajay Rawat. Despite the ban, during the tourist season, a substantial number of taxi bikes were seen plying on the city streets, causing considerable chaos. This situation prompted the police to remove these bikes from Mall Road, where they were haphazardly parked.
In response to the police action, some taxi bikers approached the court, alleging “harassment by the authorities, and contending that bike-taxi driving was their means of livelihood”. The petitioners sought an order to stop police harassment and “allow them to continue their operations without hindrance”.
All new tourist vehicles, cabs and motorbikes provided on rent will mandatorily have to be electric vehicles from January next year. He also said new vehicles purchased by the government from January 2024 will mandatorily be EVs. “It will also be mandatory for permit holders having multiple tourist taxis, rent-a-bike and rent-a-cab (service) operators to retrofit 30 per cent of the fleet to electric vehicles by June 2024,” Sawant said.
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