Officials of the state transport department can’t deny licences to owners of cabs and bikes running on electricity and ethanol under the ‘Rent a Cab’ and ‘Rent a Motorcycle’ schemes even if they don’t have permits, according to a notification issued by the transport ministry.

The ministry has exempted permit condition for these vehicles as these run on green fuel. It issued the notification after receiving complaints that state transport departments were not giving licences to such operators for their electric and ethanol vehicles. “Earlier we had exempted all electric, ethanol and methanol fuelled vehicles from permit regime. All such cabs and motor cycles attached to the operators under these schemes should have been eligible to get the licence. But they were facing problems when they applied for licences,” said an official.

He said to end this ambiguity, the ministry has amended the schemes, making it clear that cabs and motor cycles operating on battery, ethanol and methanol must be issued licence without seeking permit.