Even dead can get licence here

Money can buy you everything, even a fake driving licence. This is the state of affairs at the driving licence authority office in Gurgaon. No wonder, it recently issued a licence in the name of a judge who was killed seven years ago. HT reports.

Money can buy you everything, even a fake driving licence. This is the state of affairs at the driving licence authority office in Gurgaon. No wonder, it recently issued a licence in the name of a judge who was killed seven years ago.

HT Image

A few years back, a licence was issued in the name of dreaded terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar, who was freed in exchange of Indian hostages during the Kandahar hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight.

City whistleblowers got these driving licences made to expose corruption and glaring loopholes at the licensing authority in Gurgaon.

Last month, one of the activists Rishi Raj paid Rs 1,500 bribe to a clerk to get a licence issued in the deceased judge’s name after reading about him in a magazine.

Raj scanned the photo of the slain judge from the magazine and produced a fake ration card and medical certificate to the official concerned.

Surprisingly, the licence authority officials did not insist on personal appearance of the applicant as Raj paid them money and made an excuse that the judge was out of station.

According to procedure, one has to be personally present for the medical test, photo shoot and driving test.

The authority officials who did not bother to verify the documents learnt about the goof-up only after HT highlighted it in a report.

In 2008, a 26-year-old man posed as Maulana Masood Azhar and applied for a driving licence. He produced residence proof showing him as a resident of B-22, Bhagat Complex, Sikanderpur.

He even got a fake ID card to show he was working as a helper in the Gurgaon depot of Haryana Roadways.

Later, after the media reported the incident, the driving licence was cancelled and an enquiry was marked into the incident by the then Gurgaon DM. But nothing really has changed since then.

On the other hand, authority officials denied the practice and said there were only a few occasions when they could not detect discrepancies in documents. “We are doing our best to control the illegal practice of touts and have taken all possible steps to make the licence process easy for people. Residents are encouraging touts by approaching them. They do not want to stand in queues and prefer to take a shortcut to get their licence,” said Dharmender Yadav, secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Gurgaon.

Touts, however, have their own version.

“We manage to produce vital documents which an applicant fails to produce for the licence. I can arrange an identity proof and address proof for more money," said a tout.

“It is disheartening to see officials at the counter giving preference to touts and not people like us who wait in the queue for hours,” complained an applicant.