Daijiworld media Network - Bengaluru(DC)

Bengaluru, Mar 22: The state government has suspended the license of Ola Cabs in Karnataka for six months.

The transport department suspended app-based Ola Cabs's aggregator license for half a year. The order of suspension of Ola Cabs for six months in Karnataka was issued on March 18.

It seems the cab aggregator is charged with running bike taxis in violation of license conditions and violated government rules. The transport department has suspended aggregator license given M/s ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, Ola Cabs, Bengaluru for six months which means Ola Cabs will not be plying on roads across the state.

The official notice of the state government read, "Earlier this year, Transport Department officials had seized several bikes which were operating as bike taxis for Ola. The officials probed the case and submitted a report to the Transport Commissioner. According to Section 11 (1) the Karntaka On Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016, the Transport Department can decide to cancel the license of the cab aggregator as there is a violation of rules. Prior to this, a notice must be sent to the company in question. Hence on February 15, 2019, the Transport Department had sent Ola a notice, asking the company to respond to the findings of the probe. Ola sent its reply on March 3, 2019. As the company's reply was not satisfactory and did not provide any evidence which proved it did not violate norms, the Transport Department, as on March 18, 2019, has decided to suspend the license of Ola for a period of six months. Ola will have to submit the original copy of the license within three days of receiving a copy of this order."

In response, a spokesperson for Ola said that it was a law-abiding company and that efforts are on to find an amicable solution to the issue, adding that it was already working with the authorities concerned to resolve problems and get the suspension revoked.