A Supreme Court lawyer today served two separate legal notices on multinational ridesharing companies Uber and Pathao, asking them to explain their basic transparency and accountability.

The legal notice asked the companies to explain their income and how much money they have collected from users and ride-sharing partners in Bangladesh and how much they have paid as tax to government in the seven-eight years, respectively.

Advocate Masud Ahmed sent the legal notices to Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Uber India systems Pvt Ltd in Kurla West, Mumbai, India, and its country head of Bangladesh Nasheed Ferdous Kamal and Pathao's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Fahim Ahmed.

In the notices, he said Uber and Pathao are collecting 25 to 30 percent commission as tax, advance platform fees, booking fees from ride-sharing partners and users without permission from any legal authority.

Uber and Pathao have introduced ride-sharing business in Bangladesh through online apps on November 22, 2016 and on November 1, 2017 respectively, according to the legal notices.

The lawyer in the legal notices said that currently approximately 1,50,000 vehicles are using Uber and Pathao platforms.

The companies have been collecting service fees from every trip and sometimes collect unexpected high fare from the passengers and harm ride-sharing partners by paying much less than original fare, lawyer Masud Ahmed said in the legal notices, adding that he has already collected some evidence in this regard.

In the legal notices, the lawyer wanted to know in 15 days under which rules and regulations Uber and Pathao collect 25 to 30 percent commission in the name of service fees, and how much money they have collected from Bangladesh from the start of their businesses and using which process has the money been transferred from Bangladesh till date.

Advocate Masud Ahmed told The Daily Star that Uber and Pathao, which run business using apps, have so far collected Tk 30,000 crore to Tk 40,000 crore from Bangladesh illegally.

If they don't respond to the requirements of the legal notices, cases will be moved before the lower court and High Court against them, he added.