Vehicles with fraudulent permits may repeat Nirbhaya case: CIC

Underlining "serious fraud" in issuing licences, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has said if transport department allows vehicles with fraudulent permits based on false affidavits, these will facilitate ghastly "crimes on wheels" like the "Nirbhaya" case.
The order of the Commission came on the plea of D K Garg, whose address was allegedly used in a fraudulent way to get State Transport Authority (STA) permit for heavy transport goods vehicle to one Indu Goyal.
"On Garg's persistent complaints and RTI applications, Indu Goyal's permit was blocked but till now, it was not surrendered. There was no proper response to his RTI application and his first appeal was also not heard. There is no order in First Appeal," Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu noted.

He said the transport department is not responding properly and "negligently" allowing the false permits and facilitating heavy vehicles to ply in the city without proper documents.
Acharyulu directed the transport department to provide the file noting and correspondence relating to Garg's complaint about wrongful permit based on false documents.
"The Commission found that this second appeal revealed a serious fraud in issuing STA licence permits on false residential addresses. If the RTA allows such vehicles to roam around the city with fraudulent permits based on false affidavits, such vehicles will facilitate ghastly crimes on wheels like 'Nirbhaya Kand'," he said, referring to the brutal December 16 gangrape case.

A 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally raped and murdered in a moving bus in Delhi in 2012, triggering massive public outrage.

Acharyulu directed Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai and the higher authorities of RTA, to look into this issue in general and address the case of appellant in particular within one month.
"The RTI application of the appellant reveals a very large public interest indicating serious defect in the system of granting permit, which will not only facilitate crimes but also implicate genuine owners of the residences, whose address formed basis for granting the permits, in criminal and civil cases," the Information Commissioner said.

He recommended to the Transport Department to plug the loopholes in the system to prevent issuing of permits in such a fraudulent manner and make it mandatory to have physical verification of residential address claimed by the applicant as that happens for the issuance of Passport.