# Karnataka HC issues notice on Uber petition against gig worker law 2026-08-21T17:56:42+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Karnataka High Court has issued notices to the Central and State governments on a petition filed by Uber India Systems Private Limited challenging the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2025 and its rules. A single-judge Bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj directed notices to the Karnataka Chief Secretary, the Principal Secretary of the Labour Department, the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers Welfare Board. The court also clarified that Uber must deposit the second instalment of the welfare cess within three weeks from July 28, extending the earlier deadline. The High Court ordered Uber's petition to be clubbed with similar pleas by IAMAI, Swiggy, Zomato, and other platform companies. All connected petitions will be heard together on August 24. ## Indian Opinion Analysis This is now the third legal challenge to Karnataka's gig worker law, which imposes a welfare cess on aggregators to fund social security for platform workers. Uber, Swiggy, and Zomato together account for an estimated 90% of the state's gig workforce. The companies argue the cess is a tax that only the state legislature can levy, raising a jurisdictional question under the Constitution's Seventh Schedule. If the court upholds the law, Karnataka's model could become a template for other states, affecting lakhs of workers and adding compliance costs of over Rs 500 crore annually for the platforms. Watch for the August 24 hearing, where the court may decide on an interim stay. ## Coverage - thehansindia.com The article reports court proceedings and the petition's status without editorialising or taking sides. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Gig Workers Act, IAMAI, Justice Suraj Govindaraj, Karnataka High Court, Swiggy, Uber Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/karnataka-hc-issues-notice-on-uber-petition-against-gig-worker-law/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/karnataka-hc-issues-notice-on-uber-petition-against-gig-worker-law/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/