Tardeo transport office in fix over undelivered licences

The Regional Transport Office’s (RTO) initiative to send driving licences through speed post, which was launched with great fanfare under the auspices of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan earlier this month, has encountered its first hurdle.

The Regional Transport Office’s (RTO) initiative to send driving licences through speed post, which was launched with great fanfare under the auspices of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan earlier this month, has encountered its first hurdle.

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The RTO at Tardeo recently dispatched its first batch of 1,000 driving licences, of which 35 have been returned to them because the addresses provided to them were either false or have been changed.

The RTO is now in a fix on how undelivered licences are to be treated. “This new scheme does not clarify what an RTO must do if the address of the applicant is false or has been changed. Should we contact the applicant and send it again? Should we ask for a fine? Or should we ask them to come and collect their licence? Such questions are unanswered,” said Madhukar Jadhav, officer from the RTO at Tardeo.

Jadhav has written to the State transport department, asking them to direct RTOs in this situation. The RTO is now awaiting a reply from the transport department.

“Right now, the scheme is very new and is still in its early days of implementation. If a clarification is not sought on how undelivered licences must be treated, then it won’t be long before they start piling up,” said Jadhav.

Under the initiative launched by the state transport department on April 2, the RTO will now send permanent driving licences, learner’s licences as well as licences sent for renewal or duplication by speed post at a nominal rate of Rs20-Rs30.

Presently, the scheme is active only at the Tardeo RTO. The scheme will be initiated at the RTOs in Andheri and Wadala by the month-end. The aim of delivering licences through speed post was to proof check the address provided by the applicant at the time of application and to do away with middlemen and agents.