BENGALURU: In a major relief to thousands of Ola users and drivers across Karnataka, the State Transport Authority (STA) on Monday withdrew its decision suspending the cab aggregator’s licence for six months.STA imposed a penalty of Rs 15 lakh on Ola for operating bike taxis in Bengaluru in violation of the Karnataka On-Demand Transportation Technology Aggregator (ODTTP) Rules. While Section 3 of the rules allows STA to collect fines between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 from aggregators, it calculated the penalty based on the number of bike taxis seized — 252.Transport commissioner VP Ikkeri said they levied a maximum penalty of Rs 15 lakh in lieu of the ban. “We had given the company an aggregator licence to operate cabs but it was running bike taxis citing a pilot project without taking permission. Ola admitted to its mistake and assured us it won’t start any such pilots beyond the licence scope. It agreed to pay the fine and follow rules,” he elaborated.This is the highest amount Ola has been fined under the ODTTP Rules. The aggregator said in a statement: “We are glad that the issue stands resolved and regret any inconvenience caused to our driver-partners and passengers since Friday. We look forward to continue working with the state to help address the challenges of mobility.”The moves come after chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and social welfare minister Priyank Kharge promised to resolve the issue. “There was no political interference. STA has quasi-judicial powers and the decision has been taken considering the interests of various stakeholders, including drivers and passengers,” said Ikkeri.In Karnataka, Ola operates in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Ballari, Belagavi and Kalaburagi. STA had issued a notice dated March 18 to ANI Technologies, which operates Ola cabs

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