DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
CHANDIGARH ADMINISTRATION
Press Release
Chandigarh, 3rd August, 2016: In
exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section(1) of Section 212 of the Motor
Vehicles Act, 1988 (Central Act 59 of 1988) The Administrator, Union Territory,
Chandigarh has proposed to make the following rules.
Notice is hereby given
that draft will be taken into consideration by the Chandigarh Administration on
or after the expiry of 15 days from the date of publication of this
notification in the official gazette, together with any objection or
suggestion, which may be received by the Secretary (Transport), Chandigarh
Administration from any person before the expiry of the period so specified
with respect to the said draft, namely:-
DRAFT
RULES
Whereas it is
necessary to promote and ensure the
compliance with law and safety of
passengers that use on-demand IT based transportation aggregator platforms
within a particular jurisdiction and ensure a greater integrity of process and
operation of the on-demand transportation
aggregator platforms;
Whereas on 8.10.2015 the
Central Government issued advisory to the State Governments detailing therein
the aspects to be taken into account for the aforesaid purpose;
Whereas Section 93
of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 requires
that any person engaged in soliciting customers for travel by public service
vehicles is required to obtain a Licence from the appropriate authority and
such Licence shall be subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by the
State Government;
Now, therefore, in
exercise of the powers conferred by Sections 93, 95(1) and 96(1) read with
Section 212 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the Chandigarh Administration
hereby notifies the following rules:-
Title, Extent and Commencement-
(i) These rules may be called the Chandigarh Administration On-demand
Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016.
(ii)
These shall be applicable to Aggregators
operating in the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
(iii)
They shall come into force from
the date of their publication in the official gazette.
1. Definitions - In these Rules, unless the context otherwise
requires –
(i)
“Act” means the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
(Central Act 59 of 1988).
(ii)
“Aggregator” means a person who is an
aggregator or operator or an intermediary/market place who canvasses or
solicits or facilitates passengers for travel by a taxi and who connects the
passenger/intending passenger to a driver of a taxi through phone calls,
internet, web-based services or GPS/GPRS based services whether or not any
fare, free, commission, brokerage or other charges are collected for providing
such services.
(iii)
‘Form” means form appended to
these rules.
(iv)
“Licence” means a Licence
issued to an aggregator under these Rules.
(v)
“Licencee” means an aggregator who holds
licence issued under these rules.
(vi)
“Licencing Authority” means the
State Transport Authority, U.T. Chandigarh.
(vii)
“Taxi” means a motor cab having
a seating capacity not exceeding 6 passengers excluding the driver with public
service permit on contract.
(viii)
Words and expressions used in
these Rules and not defined herein shall have the same meanings assigned to
them in the Act and the Chandigarh Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
2.
Necessity
of Licence – No person shall act or permit any other person
to act as an aggregator, unless he holds
an effective licence issued to him under these Rules.
3.
Eligibility Conditions For Obtaining Licence -
(i) The applicant must be a company registered under the Companies Act,
2013 (Central Act 18 of 2013) or a firm
registered under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 (Central Act 9 of 1932).
(ii) The
applicant shall comply with all applicable rules and regulations prescribed
under the Act and also the Information Technology Act,2000, including the
intermediary guidelines.
iii) The
applicant shall not own or lease any vehicle, employ any driver or represent
himself as a taxi service provider, unless also registerd as a taxi operator
under the applicable law.
iv) The
applicant/operator must have published a policy on taxi fare, registration of
taxis and drivers with its platforms/application, sharing of fares with taxi
owners and drivers, safety of passengers, grievance redressal mechanism for
passengers etc which shall be followed meticulously and transparently.
v) The
applicant/operator must have a 24x7 call centre .
vi) The
operator may brand the vehicles.
vi)
The appllicant must have a fleet of minimum 100 taxis either owned or through an agreement with individual
taxi permit holders.
vii) The
applicant must have facilities for monitoring the movement of taxis with the
help of GPS, GPRS, alongwith a control room facility.
4.
Procedure
for grant/renewal/transfer of licence
i)
An application for the grant of licence in
Form - I of Appendix- I appended to
these rules, shall be accompanied by the
proof of payment of appropriate fee and other security deposits and other relevant
documents as required in Form 1.
(ii) A licence granted under these rules shall
be valid for a period of five years from the date of issuance, subject however,
to the satisfactory performance of the licensee/ Aggegator. A licence granted under these rules may
be renewed for a period of another five
years on an application in Form-I, made not less than sixty days before the
date of its expiry, subject to fulfillment of all the conditions prescribed for
grant of a licence.
iii)
If any of the conditions prescribed
under these rules for grant or renewal of licence are not complied with by the
applicant, the licencing authority may reject such application after giving an
opportunity of being heard.
iv)
On being satisfied that the applicant has
complied with all the conditions prescribed for grant or renewal of a licence
under these rules, the licensing authority shall issue a licence to the
applicant in Form-2 of Appendix -I appended to these rules or renew the same,
as the case may be.
v)
A licence issued or renewed under these
rules may be transferred to the legal heir in case of death of the licencee on
application made by the legal heir. In
other cases, the licence may be transferred on a joint application being made
by the transferor and transferee, subject to fulfilment of all the conditions
by the transferee.
vi)
Where the licence is lost or destroyed, an
application for issue of a duplicate licence shall be made along with the
prescribed fee. A duplicate licence so
issued shall be marked “Duplicate” in red ink.
5.
Requirements
in respect of Vehicle - Every taxi, for the purpose of inclusion in a
licence, shall –
i)
be covered with a contract
carriage pemit issued under Section 74 or under sub-section (8) of Section 88
of the Act.
ii)
Only Contract Carriage Permit
vehicles bearing Registration Number of Chandigarh be pressed into Web Taxi
Service. However, the vehicles
registered with the State of Punjab & Haryana carrying “All India Tourist Permit”
can also be used for this service in the Union Territory of Chandigarh by
paying entry fee @ Rs.1000/- per quarter or as
iii)
decided by the Transport
Department, Chandigarh Administration, from time to time.
iv)
have a display board inside the
Taxi containing vehicle permit and the driver’s details such as photograph,
name, Driving Licence No. and ID card issued by the STA/Police
authorities. The display board shall be
clearly visible to the passengers in the Taxi.
v)
be capable of being tracked
continuously with GPS/GPRS facility with a provision of a panic button for the
use of the passengers, capable of alerting the control room of aggregator as
well as local police without any hindrance or interference by the driver.
vi)
be fitted with
single integrated GPS/GPRS capable vehicle tracking unit with Printer, display
panel and digital fare meter, as per the specifications in Appendix II, capable
of generating a printed receipt to be given to the passenger(s).
vii)
fitted with a yellow coloured
display board with words “Taxi” visible both from the front and the rear. The board shall be capable of being
illuminated during the night hours.
6.
Driver’s
qualifications -
The Driver of a Taxi shall have
the following qualifications.
i)
He must be the holder of a licence to drive light
motor vehicles (Transport) .
ii)
He must be having a minimum driving experience of 2 years.
iii) He
must be the resident of Chandigarh or
any of the neighbouring State i.e. Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pardesh for the
last one year.
iv)
The Licencee shall employ/register
him after due police verification by the concerned State Police only.
v)
He must be a holder of Reserve Bank of India(RBI) KYC
compliant bank account .
vi)
The driver of a Taxi must be of good character and shall behave in
a civil and orderly manner with the passengers or intending passengers and
shall not give room for any complaints from them and shall not indulge in any
touting activities or force or compel the customers to use his services.
vii)The
driver of a taxi should not have been convicted within the past seven years,
for the offence of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or any
cognizable offence under the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, including fraud, sexual offences, use of a
motor vehicle to commit a cognizable offence, a crime involving property
damage, theft, acts or violence or acts
of terror.
7.
Hire
Charges – (i) On behalf of the owner of the vehicle, the driver or the
aggregator shall collect hire charges from the passengers as per the fare
indication method stated in clause (v) of rule 6 of these rules.
ii) In
any case, the fare including any other charges, if any, shall not be higher
than the maximum fare fixed by the Chandigarh Administration from time to time.
Iii) No passenger shall be charged for dead
mileage and the fare shall be charged from the point of boarding to the point
of alighting.
iv) The licencee shall publish a fare
policy and attach a copy alongwith application form. No change in fare policy shall be made without
30 days advance notice to State Transport Authority, U.T. Chandigarh, with a
copy of amended draft. Such advance
notice shall be made on website also for public information.
8.
General
Conditions To Be Adhered By The Licensee
I For Administrative purposes, the Licensee
must:
i) provide an address within the area of
operation in the jurisdiction of
the Union Territory of Chandigarh
for registered service of process along with details of Office in charge and shall neither shift his place of business, nor any of his branches as
mentioned in the licence or open a new
branch, without a written permission
from the licencing authority.
ii) maintain
records, in digital form of all the taxis at his control, indicating on a day
to day basis, the trips operated by each vehicle, details of passengers who
travelled in the vehicle, origin and destination of the journey and the fare
collected. The record so maintained
shall be open for inspection by an officer nominated by the licencing authority
at any time.
iii) provide
a list of drivers using the on-demand
technology transportation platform, including the full name of the driver,
driver license number, the vehicle registration number and the chassis and
engine number or in electronic format as prescribed by State Transport
Authority, U.T. Chandigarh.
iv) ensure that
its web or mobile application ensures compliance with the Permit conditions of the vehicle being operated by drivers
using the Licensees
on-demand transportation platform.
Provided that only Licensees
who are deemed to be Transport Service Providers under this directive shall be required
to comply with this clause.
v) establish a
driver training programme for drivers that use an on- demand transportation techonology platform
(‘drivers’) prior to the driver
being able to use the platform. The
driver training programme must
include familarisation of drivers with the law applicable to mechanically
propelled vehicles, road safety, Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 and a gender
sensitization programme.
II In order to promote passenger safety,
the Licencee must:
i) ensure
that the on demand technology transportation aggregators web or mobile
application to connect drivers
to riders displays for the passengers, a clear
picture of the driver and a picture or description (including license plate
number)of the vehicle and such other details that
allows the rider to verity that the
driver of the vehicle is person whose
details the rider has received via the on-demand
technology transportation aggregator.
ii) develop and include a feature in the
mobile application that provides riders,
the ability to share their location with a minimum 2 numbers persons within their safety network
.
iii) develop
and include a feature in the mobile application that gives rider the ability to contact local
police in case of an emergency.
iv)
enable data transfer of the
location of vehicle, vehicle and driver to the data
network of the State Transport Authority
whenever demanded.
v) verify
the criminal background of each driver wishing to use the on- demand transpiration technology platform through police
verification.
vi) verify
vehicle information registered on the on-demand transportation technology
platform with the information available with the Ministry of Road, Transport and
Highways and or the State Transport Department on
an annual basis.
III Obtain the up-to-date records relating to the driver
such as:
(i) a photograph of the driver;
(ii) the
driver’s driving license;
(iii) the driver’s vehicle license plate number;
(iv) current
home address of the driver;
(v) RBI
KYC bank account details of the driver;
(vi) Driver’s
contact information;
(vii) Self attested Epic card/Pan Card;
(viii) Residential address proof of the driver;
(ix) Contact
details and address of two family members;
IV Obtain the following up-to-date records
relating to the driver’s vehicle such as:
i)
Certificate of Registration as
prescribed under the applicable laws
of India;
ii) Certificate of Fitness as prescribed
and issued under the applicable
laws of India;
iii) Permit or
any other documents as prescribed and issued under the applicable laws of
India, including but not limited to an All India Tourist Permit or
Contract Carriage Permits issued by the STA, U.T. Chandigarh.
iv) Chassis
and engine number ;
v) Commercial
insurance policy covering for third party risks as prescribed from time to time
under the applicable laws of India.
vi) Have
the ability to track the real-time GPS location of the vehicles that make
themselves available for duty on the
licensee must also ensure that their web or mobile application can track and is inter-operable with the
physical GPS device fitted to the vehicle.
V) In the event of an incident of a criminal
nature happened during a trip booked
on-demand transportation
technology platform through the Licensee, the Licensee
will immediately inform and
cooperate with relevant authorities upon
lawful request.
VI) The Licensee must establish and implement a policy of zero
tolerance for discrimination or
discriminatory conduct while a driver is logged into the on-demand mobile application.
Discriminatory conduct may include:
i)
refusal of service;
ii)
using derogatory or harassing language directed at passenger;or
iii) rating
a passenger on the basis of
sex, race, caste, creed, religion, or nationality.
VII) The
licensee shall, upon receiving a written complaint from a passenger submitted
through regular mail or electronic means containing a reasonable allegation that
the driver using the on demand transportation technology platform violated the
zero tolerance policy for discrimination, immediately suspend the driver till the time
the investigation is complete by the Licensee.
VIII)
i) A driver shall not refuse to provide
service to an individual with a disability solely because the individual’s
disability results in bad appearance or involuntary behaviour that may offend, annoy, or cause
inconvenience to the driver or another
person.
ii) However, it
shall not constitute
discrimination under this paragraph for a
driver to refuse to
provide service to
an individual with
disabilities on account of their
own violent, seriously disruptive, or
illegal conduct.
IX) The Licensee must implement a zero
tolerance policy on the use of drugs or alcohol
by any driver and upload
the zero tolerance policy on its website, as well as the procedures to
report a complaint about a driver with whom the passenger was matched and who,
the passenger reasonably suspects was under the influence of drugs or
alcohol during the course of the ride and immediately deactivate the said driver’s access to the Platform upon
receipt of a passenger complaint alleging a violation
of the zero tolerance policy. The suspension shall last the duration of the
investigation by the licensee.
X) The licensee shall not shift the
principal place of business from the U.T. of Chandigarh without informing
the Licensing Authority in writing.
XI) The on-demand transportation technology
platform shall also inform
the
Licensing Authority regarding a change
in control or ownership of the Licensee.
XII) The State Transport Authority U.T.
Chandigarh may notify the maximum fares to be charged according to the
provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act to provide a level playing field with taxi
service providers and licencee shall frame its fare policy in accordance with
it.
XIII)
The Licencee shall be under obligation to convey any emergency message/advisory
as conveyed by State Transport Authority,U.T. Chandigarh to its
passengers/driver through its own portal/sms blast at the cost of licencee.
XIV) The Licencee shall get the CCTV installed in
the vehicles which should be linked with Control Room established by licencee
and also to maintain such data for atleast one month.
10.
Transparency
i) The On-demand
transportation technology
platform must provide a feature to
convey to the rider the distance and time travelled (based on
the metering indicted
by the device) and consideration
to be paid by a passenger/rider for the trip undertaken and upon completion of a trip, shall
transmit or cause to be
transmitted an electronic
receipt to the passenger’s email address or mobile
phone or mobile application or in hard copy documenting the origination and
destination of the trip and a description of the total amount paid, if any and
the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the receipt is issued.
ii) The
riders must be facilitated either via the web or in a mobile app or through a customer service telephone
number and an email address to submit their grievances or difficulties faced
during travel. An adequate and easy to access Grievance Redressal Mechanism
shall be put in place by licencee before start of operation. The phone number/website/e-mail address of
STA shall also be displayed on licencee’s website
iii) The
Licensee shall be permitted to digitally
provide for all features mandated physically by any applicable scheme or rule
or permit condition made by the State Transport Department or the Department of
Weights and Measures.
11.
Cancellation of License.
I) The Licencing Authority may,
after giving an opportunity of being heard to the licencee, suspend or may cancel the licence, if :-
i) the licencee
fails to comply with any of the requirements or conditions of these rules, or
ii) any driver of a
Taxi operated by him violates any requirements
or
conditions of these rules, or
iii) a passenger’s complaint of
misbehaviour or misdemeanour on the part of the driver or the licencee or
any of his employees is found to be correct after enquiry or
iv) a criminal complaint is filed against the
licencee or his employees or the driver
II) Where
a licence is suspended or cancelled, the licencee shall surrender the licence
to the licencing authority within three days of receipt of order of suspension or cancellation and
shall immediately stop all operations under the licence.
III) Where
the licence is liable to be suspended or cancelled and the licensing authority
is of the opinion that it would be expedient to impose a fine on the licence in
lieu of suspending or cancelling the licence, the licensing authority may
require the licencee to pay a fine which shall not be less than Rs.5000/- but
not exceeding Rs.10000/-.
IV) The licencee may, at any time,
voluntarily surrender the licence for cancellation. On such surrender of the licence, the
security by way of bank guarantee if
any, shall be returned to the licencee after payment of outstanding dues, if
any.
12 Appeals
– (i) The licencee aggrieved by
any order passed by the licencing authority may, within 30 days of receipt of
the order, appeal to the Chairman, State Transport Authority, U.T. Chandigarh.
ii) An
appeal shall be in the form of a memorand, in duplicate, setting forth the
grounds for the appeal and shall be accompanied by the requisite fee and the
certified copy of the order passed by the licensing authority.
13 Fees-The fee in respect of a licence
shall be as follows:
|
S.No
|
Purpose
|
Amount (in Rs.)
|
|
1.
|
Grant
of licence
|
Rs.2,00,000/-
|
|
2.
|
Renewal
of licence
|
Rs.1,00,000/-
|
|
3.
|
Issue
of duplicate licence
|
Rs.25,000/-
|
|
4.
|
Transfer
of licence
|
Rs.25,000/-
|
|
5.
|
For
noting change of address of licencee or for permission to open a new branch
office
|
Rs.5,000/-
|
|
6.
|
Appeal
|
Rs.5,000/-
|
14 Security
Deposits -The applicant for a licence under these rules shall furnish a
refundable security by way of bank
guarantee to the extent as indicated below from any nationalised bank situated
within the jurisdiction of U.T of Chandigarh.
|
S.No.
|
Purpose
|
Amount
in Rs.
|
|
1.
|
Upto
100 taxis
|
Rs.1,00,000/-
|
|
2.
|
Upto
500 taxis
|
Rs.2,00,000/-
|
|
3.
|
More
than 500 taxis
|
Rs.5,00,000/-
|
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