The Karnataka Transport Department has temporarily put on hold its crackdown against car-pooling services by taxi aggregators Ola and Uber. Transport Commissioner MK Aiyappa on Saturday said they had given the companies 15 more days to withdraw their car-pooling services in Karnataka after hearing representations from them, The Hindu reported. On Monday, the state government had told Uber and Ola to stop offering ride-sharing services in the state by Thursday.

During the 15-day period, taxi aggregators are expected to withdraw the car-sharing feature from their software, but they are free to continue these services in that window, The Economic Times reported. Aiyappa said the companies were also allowed to seek an amendment to the Karnataka Motor Vehicle Rules Act, 1989. While Ola did not issue a comment, an Uber spokesperson said the company’s legal teams “will continue to engage with the Transport Department to find solutions” for the matter.

The order to halt the crackdown came after state officials seized nearly 30 taxis in Bengaluru for violating permit conditions by taking on passengers for several locations along the same route. Several officials posed as passengers, booking a ride through Ola Share or UberPOOL and then directing their cabs to go to the nearest Regional Transport Office after the drivers picked up other passengers, according to reports.

The Karnataka government said taxi aggregation services only have contract carriage permits that do not allow them to pick up and drop passengers during the course of a ride. Aiyappa had explained that their contracts only allowed for “point-to-point drops and not picking up customers in between”, and that only the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation and school and college buses had stage carriage permits.