Plea to rationalise taxi fare: Madras High court

Chennai: The Madras High court has directed the government to consider the representation of call taxi owner-cum-driver who sought rationalisation of taxi tariff and fix meters in the taxis on the lines of fixing auto fares in the State.

Disposing of a writ petition filed by taxi owner-cum-driver, K. Sanjivee Nathan, Urapakkam, Kancipuram district, a division bench comprising Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Mahadven, directed State Chief Secretary and Commissioner Transport to dispose of the representation dated July 9, 2013 of the petitioner in eight weeks.

The petitioner submitted that over 50,000 families depended on the income eked out from operating over one lakh call taxis in Tamil Nadu. According to an estimate, nearly 10 lakh people use the service on a daily basis. Many operators were fleecing the people, collecting exorbitant tariff from them.

Of late, the call taxi business has been running into trouble and facing serious crisis with the entry of operators from multinational companies. Many multinational companies were involved in this business and collecting high tariff from the customers. By publishing juicy advertisements through electronic media and mass media they are attracting customers and, as a result, local call taxi owners were affected and unable to pursue the business.