ISPs in Delhi delay blocking of web sites of Uber, Ola and Taxiforsure

Internet service providers (ISPs) in the capital have refused to immediately shut down the web sites of taxi-hailing services such as Uber and Olacabs, saying such services cannot be immediately closed down.

ISPs will soon write to the telecom department expressing their inability to comply with its directive to block the URLs of these web sites.

The telecom ministry had, on 12 May, directed internet service providers in Delhi to shut down the URLs of four web sites, including Uber, Olacabs, TaxiForSure and angelbroking.com.

''Under the power conferred by section 69A of the Information Technology Act… it has been decided to immediately block the websites of these three taxi services,'' the ministry of communication and IT notification states.

The communications ministry did not cite any reason for the move, which made the task difficult, say ISPs.

In March, the Delhi government had asked the IT ministry to block mobile apps of these taxi companies after the transport department said the companies were not operating legally and were operating without the necessary licences.

A committee formed to look into the matter had also recommended blocking the apps and had also asked DoT to issue the order regarding the same. However, despite the ban, people are still able to access the services of these operators.