Thursday, July 14, 2011

Corruption in Registrar Offices and RTO-s of Kerala, Will the government takes action or Not?

Corruption in Registration Office and RTO, Will the Kerala Government Act against this corruption?

Dear Readers,

I Shibu K.P., have experienced the new way of corruption in executing the matters related to government. The present government servants are afraid to buy money directly from the customers, so they have started collecting their illegal income from the agencies related to their department. I will explain in details with regard to the corruption in registration department and RTO, which I have experienced directly in recent times.

Corruption in Registration Department.

I inherited my ancestral property from my father recently. And as per the new law each 2.5 cents (one unit) have a fixed Value determined by the government servants. Here the democratic elected representatives are mere spectators and they rely on the bureaucracy to execute things. They don’t know how to take responsibility and ask the bureaucracy about the criteria of determining the value and its merits and demerits. The elected uneducated representatives merely follow the dictates of bureaucracy. And ultimately people are responsible for selecting these uneducated persons as their leader in the name of party politics. Anyhow I will explain the corruption involved with this new system.

As per the new law the customer is entitled to pay the full amount of registration fees to the government. So there is no much scope for the bureaucracy to exploit this provision and get money from the customer in the name of devaluation of property and lesser registration fees. So they have approached the agencies involved with registration. These agencies don’t have much activity in writing the document since it is already there in computer. They need to alter some details and make necessary correction with regard to parties and places. Other words and formats are ready in the computer. So an expert can make the document with one hour effort. These things will make their position worse in terms of payment. So they have joined hands with registration department and fixed a price for the registration of each section of land depending upon the area.

I will give a detailed price value system determined by chief Registration officer, Thrivanathapuram.

The price of Land per unit Fees charged by the Registering agency

Rs .0 - 7500 RS.400

7500 - 12500 500

12500 - 20000 600

20000 - 30000 700

30000 - 50000 900

50000 - 75000 1300

75000 - 100000 1700

100000 – 150000 2000

150000 – 200000 3000

200000 – 300000 4000

300000 – 500000 5000

500000 – 700000 6000

700000- 800000 7000

850000 and above 7500

This fact is known to everybody in registration department and they demand 30 to 40 percentage of fees from these agencies, who are involved in the registration. So the registration agencies collect this percentage from the customer and pay to the registrar and other persons working in that department. In this way the sub registrar amalgamates Rs. 30000 to 40000 daily from these agencies. When this amount is calculated for a month it comes around Rs. 8.75,000 and for an year it comes around one core. If the agency is not willing to pay the corrupt money then the registrar and the persons of that department will drag the file of customer. Thus he will be walking from pillar to the post for registering the land. At the end of the day the customer will lose his time and money in connection with registering the land. The department has updated their department with computer, but they will drag the file of the person in the name of writing a copy of the document. Thus the departmental work takes 10-15 days to make a copy of the document. In this way the registration department gets the time to show vengeance on the person, who approaches them directly by avoiding the agencies.

Solution to this problem

1. Let the agencies write the document and the real customer pay them at their office and after that the customer has to approach the office of sub-registrar for registering the land. In this way the sub-registrar won’t understand the agency that prepared the document. In this way the practices of collecting commission will be difficult for the offices and persons.

2. Le the government fix the writing fees of writers of document and publish it in every agency\s offices for the information of the public. A copy of it can be published in the sub-register office also. So the agencies will not hide this information from the new customers, who are not aware of this fee structure. These fees can be published in the site also so the tampering with the notices and information will be reduced to certain extent.

3. The government have to cancel the licensing fees of the agency, if they are involved in the malpractices and should not allow this person to open any agency in connection with government inn future. Then only the persons involved in this corruption have the fear of losing his futuristic prospectus. This fear pf getting debarred permanently will reduce the corruption at agency level

4. The government has to dismiss those employees of the government, involved in the corruption. If that person is innocent he/she can re enter in the service with the help of judiciary.

5. The government has to pass the law that if the registration department could not close a file within 5 working days, then that person involved in delaying will be given a suspension for the dereliction of the duty. This can be recorded in his service book and after three suspensions for a person’s inefficiency that person can be dismissed from the service.

6. Does the government has the will to act and make necessary legislation to stop this menace that will eventually destroy the faith of the people in democracy and force them to engage in anti-government activities.

Corruption in the RTO

The corruption in Angamaly Sub RTO take place through the agencies of driving school. The officers related to issuing licence are having unholy connection with agencies of the driving school. It is a common knowledge and fact that present RTO-s posted in the Angamaly Sub-RTO collects the fixed rupees from the driving school for each licence. I had the UP licence with me at from 1997 onwards. And it ceases to exist as I attain 40 years of age. I approached the Angamaly Sub-RTO for the renewal of the licence, then the officer Mr.Stephen told me that he won’t renew UP licence without the NOC from the concerned RTO. In that case I have to approach the UP Fatehpur RTO for getting NOC. So he advised me that it will be a tiresome and hectic process, where you will lose money and time. So it is better that you apply for new licence here and take the licence from Kerala. A that time I didn’t suspect his intention and advice. So I applied of the new learner’s licence on May 26,2011. I passed the learner’s test and received learner’s licence with a test date of June 27,2011. As I had my own hero honda splender bike, I was forced to approach a driving school for my LMV licence (motorcar licence). Thus I approached the Surya Driving School, which is a prominent one here in Angamaly. As I was driving Motor bike and car previously, I learned fast the taking of 8 for motorbike and H for motorcar. I learned only three days and on the test date the driving school, which promised me to help on the test date with free of cost, demanded Rs. 650 as a fee for three days. Then I opposed them by stating that their promise was free of cost help. In that time the real version came out that they are charging Rs.50 per each item for the days. So my charge will come up to 3x50x2=300. Then I asked about the balance Rs.350. The owner Mr.Vinu of Surya told me that it is the charge for his car and other expenses which, he did not mention further. As it was necessary for me to take the test on that day, I paid the amount and passed the 8 and H test and the driving test of motorcycle and motorcar. After that I checked my bag where I kept the umbrella. To my surprise, I found that the umbrella is missing. I approached them again for the umbrella thinking that their students might have taken this during the time of necessity, since my bag was with those students at the time of driving the car. During this time, my driving master who was sitting in the office told Mr.Vinu that I am the person who has to pay for the motor cycle. Then Mr. Vinu told me that he was searching me for the further payment. Then I told him that I have already paid you. In this time he explained the corruption involved in this licence issuing process. Since I took 8 and H in surya driving school vehicle, he is entitled to pay a fixed amount such as Rs.300 for motorcar and Rs.200 for Motorcycle to the Angamay Sub-RTO officers. So he needs Rs.200 more for paying the officer, which I refused to pay. Then he told me that he has to pay at any cost to these officers. Otherwise there will be difficulty. And in that case he will get only RS. 150 for utilising his vehicle, which is just sufficient for the petrol price of the vehicle. Then I told him that I will pay you and take up this issue with government and other agencies for public information and necessary action form the public against these corrupt practices of government officials. The RTO officer collect nearly Rs.25000 daily from the persons who take license in regular way. For an officer in RTO gets Rs.6,25,000 per month and he amalgamate Rs.75 lakhs in a year.

In this time I analysed each activities of Angamaly Sub-RTO officer’s and their advice. It is a common fact that these officers fail those candidates who approach them directly and don’t pay their fixed amount to driving school agencies. But they pass every students of driving school even if there is a mistake. The officer of Angamaly Sub-RTO was keen in advising to take licence from Kerala and he doesn’t appreciate the Federal structure of India and UP licence in Particular with a remark that it is fake. The Officer didn’t even allow me to take driving test of motor cycle in my own bike. Instead he demanded me to take in Surya’s motor cycle and motor car. The junior inspector takes the number of candidates of each driving school by segregating the files of candidates in school wise. So the order of taking 8 for the motor cycle will be as per the line of application, but the order of taking H of the car will be as per the school. He then writes these numbers in piece of paper and takes it in his pocket while getting back to his office. After the office hours their share is given by the driving school at proper places through proper channel. And the public has to be aware about this fact and take these officers and driving school to task. Don’t forgive them for looting the public and loot them from their home for illegally amalgamating the money of the public while serving us with our own money. Don’t allow the servant of Public to loot public again in the name of job, which they do by taking huge amount as salary.

Solution to this problem

1. Dismiss those person involved in this corruption and the government should take the initiative to cancel the individual’s right to run a driving school to propagate corruption.

2. The issuing of driving licence has to be done by a civil agency, where the government will ensure different types of vehicles for this purposes at each Sub-RTO. The public can access these vehicles as per their requirement by paying fixed fees to take 8 and H.

3. This civil authority will conduct the test and RTO officer will be one among them. The consortium of driving school can make civil agency and engage their vehicles for driving test. In this way the government can reduce the burden of maintaining the vehicles.

4. The fees of using these vehicles have to make public and the candidates has to remit these fees along with the fees for taking learner’s licence.

5. In this way the driving school can teach the students at different levels and each students needs to pay the fees according to his capacity and ability.

6. Will the government act against this menace and corruption in registration department and RTO department? Do they have commitment to Public for Corruption free service of their department? If not let the public decide the future of this NATION.