Calcutta High Court takes note of surge pricing, ride cancellations; refuses Uber's plea for stay on guidelines regulating cab aggregators

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the guidelines notified by the West Bengal government for regulating the operations of cab aggregators likes Uber and Ola [Uber India Systems Private Limited vs State of West Bengal]..Single-judge Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya took note of price surging by cab aggregators and cancellation of rides by drivers and, therefore, held that the guidelines for providing refresher programme for the drivers are not impractical. "The guidelines are entirely for the benefit and safety of the consumers of the aggregators. Procedures like Refresher Training Programmes, Remedial Training of Drivers, Surge Pricing issues, Safety and Driver Compliances, non-discrimination, etc., are entirely necessary, particularly in the context of recent instances of untoward incidents of harassment of passengers at the behest of drivers affiliated to the aggregators," the Court ruled..The bench was hearing a plea filed by Uber India challenging the notification of the guidelines by the State government on the ground that the State hasn't followed the due procedure. It argued that several provisions of the guidelines are excessively harsh, oppressive, onerous, unreasonable and discriminatory.As per the new guidelines, the aggregators highlighted that the drivers would be required to undergo various additional onerous tests, training programmes and satisfy various other requirements which other cab drivers rendering same service would not have to undergo. It was contended that the guidelines are unworkable since it puts the onus on aggregators to verify that all pending vehicle-related cases are disposed of within a period of two months and also require the aggregators to share confidential data with other aggregators and upload confidential algorithms on their websites. .It was further argued that the State hasn't followed the due process by publishing draft notification calling for objections and suggestions. The State on the other hand, defended the guidelines highlighting the fact that other aggregators like Ola cabs have already started filing applications for licences (under the guidelines) and several such provisional licences have already been issued to their drivers and thus, these are workable norms. .The bench after considering the material on record opined that the State has followed the due procedure and consulted stakeholders."In fact, Uber did not initially challenge the veracity or legality of the notification when it sought clarification for the purpose of complying with the guidelines stipulated therein. The arguments as regards the guidelines being unworkable do not, ipso facto, render them invalid or vitiated in law," the Court observed. .Further, the Court opined that the guidelines substantially follow the Central government guidelines and minor deviations from the Central government guidelines do not cause any major impediment to the functioning of the aggregators..The bench further added that the relevant guidelines for not form an impossible code of conduct, which would render the functioning of the Uber cabs as impracticable."Hence, on a prima facie consideration of the available materials and the relevant legal provisions, I find no discrepancy or illegality whatsoever in the issuance of the impugned guidelines by way of the notification dated March 3, 2022 and subsequently published in the Official Gazette on June 15, 2022," the bench added. .Advocates Ratnanko Banerji, Deepan Kumar Sarkar, Nandini Khaitan, Shreya Singh, Pratik Shanu and Nikita Rathi appeared for Uber. Advocate Nilanjan Bhattacharjee represented the Union government. .[Read Judgment]