More personnel ought to be posted in each of the 86 Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and Sub RTOs in Kerala, if the around nine lakh applicants for driving licence and registration certificate (RC) were to come and collect them, since none of the offices have manpower to distribute the two documents, say Motor Vehicles department (MVD) officials.
The delivery of the documents was held up since mid-November because the MVD, which collected the prescribed fee from applicants, failed to clear dues to the Postal department and to a firm that had been entrusted with printing them. The MVD owes ₹3 crore to the Department of Posts towards delivery charges of the two documents, and another ₹8 crore to the firm in Kochi that was tasked with printing them in PVC-card format.
“But for reports that the Minister for Transport has made an announcement that applicants can collect the two documents from RTO and Sub RTO offices, we have not got any written direction in this regard. Currently, 15 officials are in charge of overseeing the delivery of the two documents across Kerala. More than ten times the number of personnel, or at least two per office, would be needed to ensure that the documents are handed over to the right people,” said MVD officials.
The MVD collected in advance ₹200 as fee and ₹45 as postal charge for issuing the RC, while ₹120 fee and postal charge of ₹45 was collected for driving licence. The government stood to gain approximately ₹100 from each applicant, after covering their processing and manufacturing expenses, and the postal delivery charge, they said.
The halting of postal delivery of the documents resulted in innumerable applicants having to rely on automobile consultants (agents) to get them. There is also the fear of unmanageable crowds if around nine lakh people thronged RTO offices within the span of a few days, in their eagerness to get the two documents.
The functioning of many RTO offices and that of Enforcement RTO offices had been affected for over a week earlier this month after a telecom major disconnected their official cell phones, citing non-payment of the annual plan package. There are also problems like inadequate funds affecting the availability of stamps at many offices, resulting in the inability to send penalty challans by post. It has resulted in communication with vehicle owners through SMS and WhatsApp. They can remit the fine at Enforcement RTO offices through GPay or by debit or credit card.
