Solicitor-General to appear for Karnataka in bike-taxi case

The State government said its restriction on the use of two-wheelers as taxis was reasonable, proportionate and in the public interest. File | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta is appearing for the Congress-led D.K. Shivakumar government in Karnataka before the Supreme Court in an appeal against a State High Court decision to allow bike-taxis as a means of public transport.

The State, in an appeal filed through its panel counsel, advocate Sanchit Garga, has submitted to the Supreme Court that a State High Court decision to allow bike-taxis ignored the low safety standards of motorcycles, higher accident fatality rates, congestion, and their limited utility as public transport vehicles.

Curbs reasonable: State

The State government said its restriction on the use of two-wheelers as taxis was reasonable, proportionate and in the public interest.

“The State has not imposed a blanket prohibition on the use of motorcycles for commercial purposes; rather, it has only restricted their use for carrying passengers. Motorcycle riders continue to have viable alternative avenues of livelihood, including under the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2025, which provides statutory protection and welfare measures for such workers,” Karnataka had submitted.

In January 2026, a Division Bench of the High Court set aside a Single Bench order of April last year that stopped bike-taxi services, pending the framing of a policy by the State.

The Division Bench had concluded that taxi aggregators and individual motorcycle owners possessed a “crystallised right to obtain permits for operating motorcycles as taxis under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988”.

Published - October 27, 2026 05:20 am IST