Driving test by proxies, old videos used to trick automated system in Punjab

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau’s April 7 surprise inspections at regional transport authority (RTA) offices and driving test centres across the state opened a Pandora’s Box unravelling rampant corruption allegedly involving officials and their intermediaries (agents) charging illegal fees to expedite driving licence processing or manipulate driving test results.

The raids led to the arrest of several people allegedly involved in bribery and malpractices.

It was found that many licences were being issued without proper driving tests, through agents who were taking bribes from applicants. A total of 16 FIRs were registered and 24 people were arrested, including private agents and some government staff. The agents and officials were arrested from Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, SBS Nagar, Sangrur, Tarn Taran, Bathinda and Gurdaspur.

Investigations revealed that agents were bypassing the automated driving test system in multiple ways. Punjab has 32 automated tracks where driving tests are recorded on video and scored digitally. Agents, in collusion with RTO officials, were copy-pasting old video footage of candidates who had passed and uploaded it under the names of new applicants who never actually took the test. In many cases, the same vehicle was used multiple times, raising suspicion. Proxy drivers were also used to take tests on behalf of others, using vehicles arranged by agents.

On Friday the state government suspended state vigilance bureau chief SPS Parmar and two other senior officers— assistant inspector general, VB, SAS Nagar, Swarandeep Singh, and senior superintendent of police, VB, Jalandhar, Harpreet Singh— for allegedly not taking action against the people involved in the alleged scam.

However, many senior officials, privy to the development, have questioned the state government’s move to take action against VB.

“It seems no action has been taken against the transport department. The question arises that it was VB, which after getting complaints on the Chief Minister’s Anti-Corruption Action Line, took action and conducted raids to unearth the malpractices, while the transport department officials could go scot-free,” A senior IPS officer said on the condition of anonymity.

“How did such widespread and systemic corruption go unnoticed or unchecked? Didn’t the senior officials of the transport department know about it?, an IPS officer said, asking why the top brass of the department, particularly civil servants, have not been acted against by the top state authorities.

For the record, VB had arrested Ramandeep Singh Dhillon, assistant transport officer, SBS Nagar, while two others, Pardeep Singh Dhillon, RTO-Mohali and Ravinder Kumar Bansal, RTO-SBS Nagar, are currently on the run.

The action came after chief secretary KAP Sinha, who also holds the charge of the vigilance department, granted permission under Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act against officials.

“When bribery, fake documentation, and backdoor licensing were happening openly across multiple districts, was it merely negligence, or wilful ignorance? Is it not a serious lapse on the part of the department’s top leadership that they failed to detect or act on irregularities happening so consistently in their field offices,” questioned another official pleading anonymity.

Despite repeated attempts, chief secretary Sinha and transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar could not be contacted for comments.