After ordering the Karnataka government to negotiate auto fares with Uber and Ola, the Karnataka High Court (HC) on Friday (October 14) allowed the app-based auto aggregators to continue operations until the state government fixed fares in accordance with relevant law.
The interim order is a significant relief for online ride-hailing platforms such as Ola, Uber, and Rapido, which were declared illegal by the Karnataka government last week. In addition to the 5% GST, the Karnataka High Court has allowed companies to charge 10% of the base fare as a convenience fee, as opposed to the previous flat rate of INR 40 per ride: Report. The court has given the state government, regulators, and cab aggregators 15 days to develop a fair pricing mechanism.