Bengaluru: Barely a month after cab aggregator Ola received a permit under the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016, the state transport department has issued a show cause notice to the company over complaints of charging customers over the prescribed fares under ‘peak hour charges’ and operating shuttle services.

In its letter to ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which runs Ola, the transport department has sought a reply from the company within a week on why action shouldn’t be taken for violation of permit provisions.

Ola was not immediately available for comment.

The letter comes at a time when the Karnataka High Court is hearing a case in which various parties including cab aggregators, a section of cab drivers, radio cab operators and city taxi cab operators among others are battling it out to determine the jurisdiction of the state to formulate the on-demand aggregator rules.

On 1 June, the state transport department gave an undertaking to court not to impound Ola, Uber and TaxiForSure cabs while Uber gave an undertaking to stop surge pricing.

On 25 June, cab aggregator, Uber had rolled out a new pricing mechanism in India in which the app would disclose the exact cost of rides before the customer books the service, a move which would help the company deflect its undertaking to stop surge pricing.

Ola had also stopped surge pricing until further directions of the court.

In its letter, the transport department has also pulled up Ola for operating its Maxi cab shuttle services. According to the transport department, there is no provision for private companies to operate shuttle services under the Karnataka Motor Vehicle Rules.

Zipgo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, an app-based shuttle service provider had suspended operations in December last year, after the transport department cracked down on the company for operating shuttle services without valid permits.

The state’s contention was that there was no provision for private companies to operate stage carrier services-multiple pickup and drop off points-that would put them in competition with state bus services.

[“Source-Livemint”]