Now the persons, who mention fake or fictitious addresses in their driving licence (Dl) or registration certificates (RC) applications, may land in trouble as the State Government has decided to dispatch the Dls/RCs by Speed Post or Registered Post through post offices from February 1 this year.
If the address is found fake, said a notification issued by the Commerce and Transport Department, the Dl/RC would be returned to the concerned Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the applicant would be interrogated for the unscrupulous act.
“This will also act as a check to ensure that the applicants provide correct residential address while applying for Dl/RC and to prevent unscrupulous elements applying Dl/RC with fictitious addresses.” said the notification, adding, “The new system will ease the difficulties experienced by the applicants for Dl/RC while collecting it from RTO office.”
The notification further said the present practice of collecting the Dls and RCs in person by the applicants from the office of the RTOs would be stopped and such licences and certificates would be sent to the applicants’ addresses as stated in the applications by Speed Post/Registered Post only. For this purpose, the dispatch fees and handling charges would be borne by the applicant which would be added to the present fees for different purposes of obtaining Dls/RCs, it added.
Accordingly, the notification said Rs 20 in case of address of the applicant falling in the local municipal area where the RTO office is situated and Rs 40 for the other areas as the case may be will be collected from the applicants in addition to the Dl and RC fees for different purposes.
This order shall come into effect from February 1, 2014 and applications will be received from February 1, 2014 onwards will be accepted with these additional charges towards dispatch fee by Speed Post and handling charges in addition to the Dl and RC fees for different purposes, stated the notification.
According to Bhubaneswar Regional Transport Officer lal Mohan Sethy, the new system will help check fake applicants, and ultimately it will help out the genuine applicants who are usually exploited by the unscrupulous agents. “It will bring transparency in the system and check fake vehicle-related criminal activities,” Sethy said.