The Karnataka government is now against the Child lock feature of the app-based cab aggregators like Ola and Uber. Recently, the state Transport Department has issued notices to these private cab services for not disabling child lock in vehicles operating on their platforms. The reason of deactivating the feature from the cabs is that the government considers it as a threat to women’s safety in cabs.
Out of 2.5 lakh cabs registered under the Karnataka government,only 42,000 have been disabled the feature as of now as told by an official from the department to the High Court on Wednesday. This is around 16.8% of the cabs ply in different regions of the state and as estimated the rest will take another 3 months to follow the rule.
The Additional Commissioner for Transport, Narayana Swamy said, “Ola and Uber are not so very keen to ensure their driver partners disable the child lock system. Notices have been issued to both the cab aggregators, asking why their licence should not be revoke cancelled for not being abided by the new rules.”
But as explained by the Additional Advocate-General (AAG) A.S. Ponnanna to the High Court, that technically deactivating the child lock feature in a car is a tedious process and each vehicle needs at least two hours for it.
The deadline fixed by the the Transport Department was January 16 after a change was made in the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Act on December 14, 2018. Cab owners and drivers are ought to obtain a certificate from the regional transport office. However, the process will now apparently take three months to be implemented fully.
On the either side, Ola has clarified that they are with the Karnataka State Transport Department on the issue around disabling child locks in vehicles,Because costumer safety is their top most priority at all times.
