Carpooling can attract fine of up to ₹10,000 and suspension of vehicle's registration certificate

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₹5,000 to ₹10,000, reported Times of India. The action has come as a response to local taxi drivers complaints regarding the use of private vehicle by commercial carpooling apps. According to the Transport Department, private vehicles with a white registration plate for commercial purposes are illegal, according to Times of India.Moreover, their vehicle’s registration certificate can also get suspended for six months, Additional Commissioner (Enforcement) of the Transport Department Malikarjun C told TOI.

The move has come in response to complaints filed by taxi drivers against carpooling apps who are aggregating private vehicles for commercial purposes, an act of violation of rules, another official told TOI. A similar decision was taken by the Maharashtra government in January this year. At that time, the state government announced a ban on carpooling and bike-sharing applications which use non-transport vehicles.

The state had also suspended Rapido-a bike-taxi service for the same reason in January. Several app-based car and bike aggregators are also very popular in Mumbai. However, majority of those applications offer carpooling and bike-sharing services, RTO sources told Hindustan Times.

“These apps present various offers on rates and pricing which aren’t approved by the government authorities. Moreover, there is no control or monitoring done on the app-based operator, the riders and users of these services who use non-transport vehicles for the same," an RTO officer told HT. This is the main reason why these applications are illegal.