Uber, Karnataka government reach temporary truce

BENGALURU: Uber has promised the Karnataka High Court that it will put surge pricing on hold, and the government in turn has said that it will not impound cabs, as a temporary truce takes hold ahead of a legal battle to determine the validity of new regulations governing app-based taxi aggregators, reports Our Bureau.

Justice Aravind Kumar, hearing a batch of writ petitions including one from Uber, granted a slew of reliefs to the aggregators and cab drivers. Additional Advocate General AG Ponnanna, appearing for the transport department, informed the court that the government will not take “coercive steps” for three weeks against the cab drivers, and “precipitate” the matter on grounds of violations under the Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, notified on April 2.