Uber fails to get licence in Delhi as govt finds discrepancies in application

New Delhi: Efforts by Uber and three other companies to procure licence to run cab services in the national capital hit another roadblock with Delhi government finding deficiencies in their applications. The government has asked these taxi providers to furnish all details before it as mentioned in recently introduced “Modified Radio Taxi Scheme (2006)”. Uber, which was banned two months ago after one of its drivers allegedly raped a woman, had applied for licence on January 22 to operate app-based taxi booking service through its subsidiary Resource Expert India Pvt Ltd. [caption id=“attachment_2062141” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The cab service was banned by the govt on 8 December. Reuters[/caption] App-based taxi operators Ola Cabs, Taxi For Sure and another operator had also applied for licences. Delhi government has found “discrepancies” in the applications and asked the companies to furnish all the required documents as mentioned in the Modified Radio Taxi Scheme (2006) which was finalised on January 1 following the outrage over rape of the woman on December 5 allegedly inside the Uber cab. Sources said that the three app-based taxi providers in their applications did not provide full details for procuring a licence according to laid down rules. “In Uber’s application, certificate/undertaking for parking of radio taxis was not provided. They also did not mention telephone number, e-mail address and address proof of their registered office in Delhi. “Besides, call centre management details were also not provided in the application,” a top source said. The sources also said that in the application of Taxi For Sure, details of drivers and undertaking of induction schedule were not provided. “Certificate/undertaking for parking of radio taxis was not provided in Taxi For Sure’s applications. Call centre arrangement details and print out of of web portal were also not provided,” the source added. Similarly, the government also found some deficiencies in the application filed by APRA Cabs India Pvt Ltd which had applied for licence under the brand name of “Ola Cabs”. US-based taxi booking firm Uber had recently announced resumption of services in the city but Delhi government immediately said that the company cannot operate as the ban imposed on it last month has not been revoked. The international cab booking firm was banned by Delhi government last month following public outrage after one of its drivers allegedly raped a 26-year old executive. Earlier this month, Delhi government had decided to continue with the ban on Uber and asked it to fulfil the conditions for taxi operations in the national capital before seeking revocation of punitive action. According to the transport department, all taxi aggregators, including app-based cab service providers, will have to register themselves with the department. The government had banned Uber on December 8. PTI