Draft rules for ride aggregators in six months: Madras HC to T.N. government

The court directed the matter to be listed after six months under the caption ‘for reporting compliance’. | Photo Credit: R. ASHOK The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the State government to examine the report of an expert committee and frame suitable guidelines/rules/bylaws in six months for aggregators, including those related to bike-taxi services, in Tamil Nadu.A Division Bench of Justices P. Velmurugan and K.K. Ramakrishnan issued the direction while disposing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that had sought a direction to the State government to enact and enforce a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework governing aggregators in the State.The State submitted that after carefully examining the proposal in the light of the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, the government had issued a G.O. constituting a seven-member expert committee to examine the existing categories of vehicles; collect and analyse relevant data; study prevailing fare structures and best practices adopted elsewhere; examine issues relating to dynamic pricing, pooling services, aggregator-driver agreements, and monitoring mechanisms; and recommend a fair, transparent, and reasonable fare regime for incorporation in the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Aggregator Rules, 2025.Further, the State submitted that the report and recommendations of the expert committee were awaited and the government would examine the report on its receipt, and thereafter, take a considered policy decision and finalise the appropriate regulatory framework in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions, the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, and the directions of the court.App-based servicesThe petitioner, R. Naveen Kumar of Madurai, said that in recent years, app-based bike-taxi services, which operated through digital aggregators, had become an integral part of the transport ecosystem in Tamil Nadu.However, a critical regulatory vacuum existed due to the State government’s failure to notify a specific scheme for non-transport motorcycles used for passenger aggregation, he said. He said the regulatory vacuum had created problems in two major aspects — absence of safety standard and accountability, which resulted in threat to public safety, and absence of State mechanism to obtain permits, thereby affecting the livelihood of riders. The court directed the matter to be listed after six months under the caption ‘for reporting compliance’. Published - October 10, 2026 11:33 pm IST