Govt cautions app-based cab operators not to hire drivers with criminal antecedents

The Ministry of Road and Surface Transport has cautioned App and Web-based taxi operators and asked them to follow the government advisory prior hiring drivers.

In an advisory issued three days earlier, the Ministry has “advised not to hire any person who has been convicted within the past seven years of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol or who has been convicted at any time for any cognizable offense under the Criminal Code of Procedure 1973.”

It has also asked operators not to sign any contract with any person as the driver who was charged with cases of fraud, sexual offenses, use of a motor vehicle to commit a cognizable offense, a crime involving property damage, and/or theft, act of violence or of acts of terror. 

Last month, a Delhi court had convicted Shiv Kumar Yadav, a driver with Uber, in the December 2014 rape case of a woman working with a finance company.

Advisory has also asked operators to hire only those people as drivers for fleets, who hold a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) KYC compliant bank account. The Ministry has issued a directive to the State Transport Department to give the licence to operate on demand transportation technology platform (commonly known as App or web-based taxi operation) to a person or to a company only when they adhere to the terms and conditions set in the advisory.

It has also asked its state counterparts to compel operators to maintain an accurate and up to date recodes of all of the drivers and driver vehicles from the state. Central Ministry in its advisory has also advised to “ensure that the on demand technology transportation aggregators web or mobile application to connect drivers to riders displays for the passenger 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 verify that the driver of the vehicle is person whose details the rider has received via the on-demand technology transportation aggregator” said a source who is aware of the details of circular. 

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