Bengaluru: In a landmark judgment, Karnataka high court has ruled that under the Sexual Harassment of women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (PoSH Act 2013), a driver-subscriber of atransport aggregator is to be considered itss “employee”. The court ordered ride-hailing firm Ola to pay Rs 5 lakh as cost and an additional Rs 50,000 as litigation expenses to a Bengaluru woman for failing to act on her complaint against a driver.
Justice MGS Kamal, in his judgment pronounced on Sept 30, rejected Ola’s contention that it was merely an “intermediary”. The court noted that according to the Karnnataka on Demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules-2016, and the PoSH Act, Ola, as the ‘aggregator’ and’licencee’ had astatutory obligation to ensure the safety of passengers by ensuring prop