Delhi government coming up with new taxi scheme: HC told

The city government on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it has modified the Radio Taxi Scheme and is coming up with new specific scheme in 10 days for radio taxis which will include mandatory installation of GPS devices and a panic button.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath was told that new modified scheme will have safety norms for women and other passengers and the operators have to provide full database of their drivers to the police.

Additional standing counsel Naushad Ahmed Khan, appearing for Delhi government, said the government is coming with modified scheme in 10 days which will have norms related to safety of the women and the public at large.

He told the court that as per new rules, to be applicable on all taxis plying in Delhi, radio taxi providers will have to either maintain a call centre or operate through an authorised call centre or web portal and they will have to provide such details to the transport department.

The new rules will not compromise on the issue of the plying of the diesel-powered inter-state taxis in Delhi.

The government's response came on PILs, alleging that the number of taxi operators like Uber, Ola, Taxi for Sure and Meru have been violating the Supreme Court directive by using diesel-fuelled vehicles as city or radio taxis.