New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court today said that taxi company Ola can run cabs only fueled with compressed natural gas or CNG in the national capital.
Congress leader and senior lawyer P Chidambaram appeared for ANI Technologies, the company that owns Ola, and said that it would take off all diesel taxis within two weeks.
The High Court maintained its earlier order backing the Delhi government which said tourist taxis with 'All-India' permits cannot run as city cabs.
The ruling came during a hearing of a Delhi government plea against the app-based taxi operator for continuing to run its service in the city despite a rejection of its license.
According to government, the last application of taxi company was rejected for not filing undertakings stating they were complying with a government's ban imposed on it and other laid-down rules.
On June 3 this year, the Transport department had rejected applications by US-based taxi booking firm Uber and two other such service providers - Ola and TaxiForSure.
On the order of the High Court, the Transport department had given a 'last chance' to hear the views of Ola on the existing ban.
"Government heard views of Ola Cabs during a hearing, but it is not satisfied. The app-based taxi booking firm is claiming that it will bring all its cabs on CNG, but it is not the single rule to follow," a top government official said on Thursday.
"To run taxis in Delhi, there are several rules like installation of digital fare meters, operation through government-approved fare structure, GPS and PSV badge," the official said.
All app-based cab service were banned in the national capital after a driver of Uber, the US-based online cab service provider, was accused of raping a 27-year-old financial consultant woman passenger in December last year.
In a statement today, Ola said it was introducing a feature in its app to distinguish between CNG and diesel taxis. "We respect the orders of the Honourable High Court and will continue to be committed to building mobility for a billion people," the company said.