Mumbai, July 7 (IANS) In a major administrative policy shift aimed at checking illegal passenger transport and reinforcing commuter safety, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced that a state domicile certificate will soon be mandatory for obtaining bike-taxi permits and commercial transport licenses.

The policy directive was announced in the Maharashtra Assembly by the State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik.

The strict mandate is slated to come into effect from August 1.

The Maharashtra government’s intervention comes in response to a query raised during the Question Hour by Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande.

Highlighting a surge in unregulated public transport across major urban hubs, Lande voiced severe concerns over the vulnerability of women and school students.

“The roads are currently flooded with illegal vehicles and unverified operators running bike-taxi services without proper registration, badges, or driving licenses,” MLA Lande said in the House.

“A significant number of these operators have undergone zero police character verification, creating a massive security threat to daily commuters. The state government must launch a thorough investigation and register criminal cases against those flouting the rules.”

Replying to the debate in the State Assembly, Minister Sarnaik admitted that a massive gray market had emerged, with an estimated 4,00,000 to 4,5,000 app-based bike-taxis operating unauthorisedly across the state without commercial clearance.

“We are witnessing a dangerous trend where individuals from other states move to Maharashtra, purchase two-wheelers, and immediately begin operating commercial passenger services without valid documentation,” Minister Sarnaik said.

“This will no longer be tolerated. To restore order and security, the state will only grant bike-taxi permits to applicants holding a valid Maharashtra Domicile Certificate,” he added.

The announcement marks a decisive pivot from the state’s prior hardline stance of attempting to ban app-based bike-taxis entirely.

Instead, the state administration will formally legalise and regulate the sector under a structured framework with strict parameters.

Minister Sarnaik’s announcement is important as during the past year, the Maharashtra Transport Department had been locked in legal disputes and enforcement drives against major ride-hailing aggregators.

In 2025, the state had notified rules restricting bike-taxis exclusively to electric vehicles (EVs).

However, app-based platforms continued to deploy massive fleets of petrol-powered private two-wheelers for commercial rides, exposing a loophole in regional transport authority (RTO) monitoring.

According to data tabled in the State Assembly on Tuesday, enforcement squads intercepted nearly 1,000 vehicles operating illegally between April 2025 and May 2026, recovering more than Rs 18.5 lakh in penalties.

Despite the crackdowns, enforcement proved challenging because the app-based platforms operated on unified national apps.

The transition to a domicile-linked permit system serves a triple objective for the state government ahead of upcoming local elections: it establishes a definitive paper trail for every driver to enhance women’s safety, introduces a new stream of non-tax revenue for the state, and reserves micro-entrepreneurship opportunities exclusively for local youth.

The drafted rules have been dispatched to the Law and Judiciary Department for immediate statutory clearance, the Transport department sources said.

–IANS

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