DTO issues 3057 licences in a day
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 23 2013 : One former District Transport Officer (DTO) of Ukhrul issued 3057 driving licences in a single day and the revenue thus collected never reached the Government's coffer.

One G Athui, then Inspector (Mechanical) was given the charge of DTO Ukhrul in March 2011.He was posted to his new post of DTO along with one LDC and a peon.

As Ukhrul DTO has no proper office, two rooms in Ukhrul mini-secretariat served as the DTO office for about two months.

After this, G Athui took all documents of the office to his home where he ran the DTO office, informed a source.

According to an order issued by Transport Director, G Athui was replaced by O Gulamjat as Ukhrul DTO in April 2012 whereas Athui was transferred to Imphal West.

However, when Gulamjat went to his new office, the office was found locked.

Later, Gulamjat took self charge of DTO Ukhrul at the suggestion of his superior officers.

The lock of the DTO office was broke open in the presence of the concerned Deputy Commissioner.

Inside the room, no official documents or records could be found.

Subsequently, G Athui was suspended from service by an order issued by the Transport Director on June 6, 2012 .

This was followed by an investigation into the malpractices of G Athui by the State Vigilance Commission.

Documents and records of Ukhrul DTO office were recovered from the house of G Athui on July 19 last year.

In the course of the investigation, 13 registers for issuing driving licences were recovered from G Athui.

On examining the registers, it was found that G Athui issued 3345 driving licences between April 3 and June 2 last year.

Surprisingly, the registers did not mention anything about the types of vehicles for which the driving licences were issued.

It was further discovered that the Athui discovered 3057 driving licences on June 2, 2012 .

For these large number of driving licences issued within a very brief period, no TRs were collected nor any revenue reached the State exchequer.

Even if it is assumed that all the driving licences issued by Athui were for light vehicles, at least Rs 5,68,650 (at the rate of Rs 170 per licence) should accrue to the State exchequer.

Taking serious note of the fraudulent activities of G Athui, the Vigilance Commission has recommended the Government to institute a departmental enquiry against him and recover the whole amount he swindled which otherwise should accrued to the Government exchequer, informed the source.

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