By Sneha Johari and Nikhil Pahwa The High Court of Delhi has asked the Government of Delhi to file an affidavit clarifying its position on surge pricing yesterday, Rakesh Agarwal, CEO of MagicSewa told MediaNama. Magic Sewa, which has filed the case, contends that according the Motor Vehicles Act, the government has to ensure that there is no uneconomic competition between permit holders, and their case is that according to law, "they (Ola and Uber) can't even charge 1 paise less than what the government has notified". The next date of hearing is 21st of November. Details from Magic Sewa's petition. PTI reports that the Delhi High court yesterday appeared to disagree with this contention, saying that ultimately, the consumer is king, and taxi associations cannot contest that consumers should not be given benefit. The court cited the reduction in pricing for 4G services, adding that the state government notification doesn't say that discounts cannot be given to consumers. While we're waiting to hear from Ola and Uber, we did speak with Agarwal about contention, and why he's filed this case. Notes from our call with Agarwal: Killing the business of traditional public transport: "By giving discounts and charging lower fares, they are killing the business of auto drivers, kaali-peeli taxis and other forms of taxis. On the one hand they are giving discounts, but to recover the losses they are indulging in surge pricing. This amounts to manipulation of fares in order to make up for losses. I don't have any objection…
