State Transport Authority (STA) of Chandigarh has officially suspended the aggregator license of Ola’s parent company, ANI Technologies, for a period of six months with immediate effect.

The regulatory crackdown bars Ola from legally operating its cab and bike taxi services within Chandigarh’s jurisdiction. The transport department has issued strict warnings to drivers to stop accepting bookings on the platform, stating that any vehicles found operating despite the ban will face heavy fines and impoundment. Commuters have also been advised to switch to other authorized apps to avoid legal violations or service disruptions.

The decision follows nearly a year of friction between the company and the union territory administration over non-compliance with the Chandigarh Administration Motor Vehicles Aggregators Rules.

The primary regulatory violations that triggered the suspension include:

• Driver Welfare Breaches: The administration received continuous complaints from drivers that Ola was failing to provide mandatory operational benefits required under the regional framework, specifically health insurance, term insurance coverage, and required driver training modules.
• Illegal Subscription Models: Regulators flagged Ola’s prepaid subscription system, which forced drivers to recharge upfront monetary balances to remain attached to the booking platform, declaring the model a violation of transport rules.
• Fare Structure Violations: The company continued to apply its own internal dynamic pricing algorithms, ignoring the standard fare caps and parameters formally notified by the Chandigarh administration.
• The “Ghost Office” Violation: During verification checks, a regulatory committee discovered that Ola had quietly shut down and vacated its local registered Chandigarh office nearly a year prior without providing any notification or updated address to the licensing authority.
• Complete Regulatory Evading: The final trigger was Ola’s failure to respond to repeated show-cause notices, extensions, and official communications over the past year. The company skipped a vital review meeting called by the Transport Secretary, and inspection teams found the local office non-functional during multiple site visits, leading the authority to invoke Rule 17 for a full six-month operational halt.