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"BENGALURU: When Uber, TaxiForSure and other app-based cab services were suspended by the Karnataka government on Thursday, neither did their apps stop functioning nor vehicles stop plying. Also, some of the operators claimed their papers were in order. So what’s causing the big confusion? The fault, legal experts say, lies in the Motor Vehicles Act 1989, which has become archaic in the e-commerce era and is flummoxing the cab aggregators.As per the motor vehicle rules, any vehicle for commercial operations should have contract carriage permit and any of the three permits— all India, state or city. As BR Sundar Raj Gupta, advocate explains, “A vehicle having all India permit can ply anywhere but pay taxes to other states also where it plies. A vehicle having state permit can travel anywhere in state but cannot pick individual passengers unlike city taxi permit conditions. But the company must be registered with a regional transport authority,” he added.TV Sathish, another legal expert, says the problem with web-based operators is they are aggregators and function on the principle that the cabs they work with have permits. “The problem here is that the rules mandate these agencies to register with the regional transport authority. Though the rule has been there, the issue of Uber and other services emerged only after the Delhi rape incident.Having regional permit calls for setting up monitoring centre among others. But in reality, web-based firms have their own app and GPS-based monitoring mechanisms. There is an urgent need to upgrade the law to accommodate modern taxi operations and resolve the problem,” he added.What about the Karnataka High Court ruling dated November 2013, which says taxis operating under the tourist permit can also ply within city limits, without violating the terms of a contract carriage permit? Sathish says the current issue is about cab firms registering with the state government. “But if any web-based cab company that is registered with the government is banned, it can appeal before the courts and challenge this not-so authoritative ban.”Gupta also said every vehicle under an aggregator or operator must have a contract carriage permit for ferrying passengers under sections 73 and 74 of the Act. But the obsolete motor vehicle rules are obfuscating the matter for companies, he added.The suspension of some web-based services came up in the wake of the Delhi rape, following which the Union ministry of home affairs directed all the states to ban the services of app-based radio taxis not registered with the respective state transport departments.In Karnataka out of 12 cab aggregators, eight have been found registered as city taxi under jurisdictional RTOs and have operational licences.Follow and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube"
<https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/policy/archaic-motor-laws-causing-chaos-say-legal-experts/45520260>