Ola and Uber to follow SC order on diesel taxis

The Supreme Court of India. (File Photo: IANS)

New Delhi – Online cab service companies Ola and Uber on Saturday said they will comply with the Supreme Court order after it refused to give more time to taxi operators in the NCR to switch from diesel to CNG.

“Ola, as a responsible corporate citizen, will respect and abide by the law of the land,” an Ola official told IANS.

Stating that more than 26,000 CNG vehicles were currently operating in the Delhi NCR region, the official said: “We are constantly adding more CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) based vehicles for services.”

Uber too maintained a similar stand on the apex court decision, saying it welcomes the decision on diesel taxis.

On March 4, Uber had told the Delhi High Court that it has aggregated around 8,000 CNG taxis to provide point-to-point service within the national capital territory (NCT).

A number of cab operators and their associations urged the court for an extension of the deadline. But a Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice R. Banumati refused the request.

The apex court, by its December 16, 2015 order, had initially asked the diesel cab operators in Delhi to switch over to CNG by March 1.

However, by its January 5, 2016 order, the court, bringing all the diesel taxis operating in the NCR in the ambit of its December 16 order, extended the deadline to March 31.

On March 31, on a request by diesel cab operators, the time was extended to April 30 with court then making it clear that it would give no further extension to switching over to CNG.

The matter related to steps to be taken to curb alarming increase in air pollution in Delhi.