Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has initiated investigation against 10 officials of Road Transport Authority at Gajuwaka, including the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Muralidhar, for alleged corruption. Apart from the RTA officials, cases have been filed against 10 unauthorised agents, who maintain makeshift offices outside the premises of the RTA office.
According to the DSP of ACB K. Ramakrishna Prasad, cases have been registered against all the 20 persons under Prevention of Corruption Act.
The ACB officials had conducted a surprise check on the premises of the RTA office on September 11 and seized about Rs. 4.18 lakh unaccounted cash, of which Rs. 1.03 lakh was recovered from the RTA officials and Rs. 3.15 lakh was seized from the agents.
The ACB also seized about 330 applications that had clear markings of the agents with their initials and a notebook with coded entries on the cash transactions. As per the initial investigations, the RTA officials, in collusion with the agents, were collecting huge sum of money for services such as issuance of driving licence, learner’s driving licence, vehicle registration, and fitness certificates.
“It is also learnt that the RTA officials were charging extra money for issuance of fancy numbers without organising the auction, as per the government rule. There has been no auction in the last few months, resulting in nil contribution to the Exchequer,” said Mr. Ramakrishna Prasad.
The DSP informed The Hindu that the normal fee for issuing a learner’s driving licence was Rs. 60, but the agents were charging about Rs. 500 from aspirants.
Extra fee
“The extra fee depends on the services. Like the government’s fee for the registration of a new van is about Rs. 650, but the agents were charging over Rs. 5,000 for getting the work done quickly. There is a cut for the RTA officials from the extra money collected and that is recorded in the coded notebook that we have seized,” said Mr. Ramakrishna Prasad.
The ACB has booked a suo motu case and is banking on the decoding of the coded notebook and correlating it with the initials on the application forms and the unaccounted cash seized.
A report has been sent to the DGP of ACB for arrest orders and the investigation is on.
The ACB officials have seized about 330 application with clear markings of agents and their initials
