The central government has banned the United States-based cab service provider Uber in Delhi following the rape of a woman executive by one of their drivers on Friday night.
"The services of Uber have been blacklisted. We have just issued an order saying Uber's activities stand banned in Delhi," Delhi Transport Department's Special Commissioner Satish Mathur told Economic Times.
Mathur said Uber was misleading consumers by letting All-India Permit Taxis ferry customers from point-to-point in Delhi. "In this rape case, the victim was provided an All India Permit Taxi which is not allowed to ferry customers point-to-point in the National capital," he said.
"We will also be issuing a public notice saying Uber is not authorised to provide any taxi services in the capital so that customers are aware which are the authorised radio Cab services. Uber is not a authorised radio cab service and has been operating illegally," Mathur added.
All the cab service providers plying point-to-point in Delhi are required to follow rules of the Radio Taxi Scheme (RTS), 2006. Under RTS, a licensee must be either a company under the Companies Act, 1956, or a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, according to the news report.
"The rules also say that the radio taxi licensee shall be responsible for quality of drivers, their police verification, employer control and supervision of drivers, employee behaviour. The employers shall also ensure that the drivers are totally safe, reliable and trustworthy," Mathur said.
"But Uber never applied for any permission to us, is not recognised under the Radio Taxi Rules and has flouted most of the laid-down rules," he added.
The Delhi government made the call against Uber after one of its driver raped a customer on Friday night and threatened to repeat the 16 December cruelty (inserting iron rod into her genitals) if she resisted his advances.
The driver, Shiv Kumar Yadav, who was absconding after the incident, was arrested on Sunday evening after the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh police tracked him down through his cellphone signal.
Yadav, 32, will be presented before a Delhi court on Monday afternoon for raping the 25-year-old woman executive working in a global consultancy firm.
Yada was appointed by Uber without a background check. He spent seven months in Tihar jail for an alleged sexual assault case in 2011. He claimed that he was later acquitted in the case.
Police are investigating his past criminal record and also interrogating Uber's India head for failing to carry out a background check on him.
