The Maharashtra government on Tuesday, 7 July 2025, announced that a valid state domicile certificate will be mandatory for obtaining bike-taxi permits and commercial transport licences, in a significant policy shift aimed at curbing illegal passenger transport and strengthening commuter safety. State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik made the announcement in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, stating the mandate will take effect from 1 August 2025.

What Triggered the Announcement

The policy directive came in response to a query raised during Question Hour by Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande, who flagged a sharp rise in unregulated public transport across major urban centres. Lande expressed particular concern over the safety 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 licences,' 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.'

Scale of the Problem

Responding to the debate, Minister Sarnaik acknowledged that an estimated 4,00,000 to 4,50,000 app-based bike-taxis were operating unauthorisedly across the state without commercial clearance — a figure that underscores the scale of the grey market that has taken root. According to data tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, enforcement squads intercepted nearly 1,000 vehicles operating illegally between April 2025 and May 2026, recovering more than ₹18.5 lakh in penalties. Despite these crackdowns, enforcement remained difficult because app-based platforms operated on unified national applications.

'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,' 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.

A Shift from Outright Ban to Regulated Framework

Notably, the announcement marks a decisive pivot from the state's earlier stance of attempting to ban app-based bike-taxis entirely. Instead, the administration will formally legalise and regulate the sector under a structured framework with strict eligibility parameters. This comes amid a backdrop of sustained legal disputes — throughout the past year, the Maharashtra Transport Department had been locked in enforcement drives and court battles 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 deploying large fleets of petrol-powered private two-wheelers for commercial rides, exposing a significant loophole in regional transport authority (RTO) monitoring.

Triple Objective Ahead of Local Elections

The transition to a domicile-linked permit system serves three stated objectives for the state government: 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 for local youth. The drafted rules have been dispatched to the Law and Judiciary Department for statutory clearance, according to Transport Department sources.

With the 1 August 2025 deadline approaching, the sector — and the hundreds of thousands of operators currently functioning without documentation — faces a hard reckoning.