Madras High Court allows Ola to operate at Chennai Central for 6 months

The court allowed Ani Technologies to operate cab services for a period of 6 months by paying Rs 4 mn as licence fee

The Madras High Court has allowed Ola Cabs to operate cab services at Chennai Central, the main railway station of the city, for six months, while rejecting writ petitions by two call taxi firms against a tender that was decided in favour of the online taxi aggregator.   

Considering the writ petitions filed by two Chennai-based call taxi service providers -- Fast Track Pvt Ltd and Bharathi Cabs Pvt Ltd -- against the Divisional Railway Manager (Commercial) and Bengaluru-based Ani Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs Ola Cabs, Justice S M Subramaniam issued an order rejecting the petition of both the call taxi service providers.    

The dispute is related to a tender process carried out by the Southern Railways issuing orders to Ola Cabs for parking and operating call taxi stand at Chennai Central from August 2, 2017, for a period of one year. The call taxi firms alleged that the tender was awarded to Ani Technologies for a price of Rs 7 million, while the reserve price fixed was of Rs 21.78 million exclusive of goods and services tax.  

Both the companies approached the court and an interim order was issued against Ani Technologies from operating the stand. Bharathi Cabs did not participate in the tender and the bid of Fast Track was not selected during the tender process, they said.

The Judge, considering the inconvenience caused for the public due to non-availability of cabs, observed that the tender was awarded according to the procedure. He added that due to the dispute, Ani Technologies has lost the opportunity to operate for at least 10 months and only two months are left according to the contract. If the contract is restored by the court for another one year, it would cause loss to the Railways. The court also has to consider the plight of the petitioners, he said. 

The court allowed Ani Technologies to operate cab services for a period of six months from September 24, 2018, to March 23, 2019, by paying Rs 4 million as licence fee and has sought the Southern Railways to take steps to issue a fresh tender notification by providing an opportunity to all eligible persons, including the petitioners.