Arrest warrants issued against Faridkot DTO

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 15

For non-compliance of the orders of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Faridkot, has issued arrest warrants against District Transport Officer (DTO), Faridkot.

The state commission had imposed Rs 25,000 fine on the DTO in April. This fine was to be paid to an aggrieved person who had faced harassment due to a ‘mistake’ in the record of the Transport Department.

Pardeep Kumar, a resident of Kotkapura, had to suffer due to the ‘mistake’ in preparing his driving licence.

Pardeep had met with a road accident on June 17, 2016, in which his car was badly damaged.

The insurance company denied insurance claim to him, saying he did not have the valid driving licence on the day of the accident.

For disproving insurance claim to Pardeep, the insurance company claimed that as per the Transport Department record in Faridkot, the validity of his driving licence ended on March 21, 2016.

However, producing his driving licence before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Faridkot and State Commission in Chandigarh, Pardeep Kumar claimed that as per the copy of the driving licence, provided to him by the Transport Department, it was valid up to September 3, 2016. But, in the records of the department, the expiry date of this licence was March 21, 2016.

On the basis of his driving licence, Pardeep Kumar claimed he was the rightful claimant for the insurance cover as the accident had occurred on June 17, 2016.

If there is any mistake in making of the driving licence by mentioning different dates of validity on it and in the official record of the department, it is responsibility of the department, not of the accident victim. Moreover, the insurance company cannot take benefit of this mistake in the official record to deny insurance claim to the victim, the state commission had said in its order in April this year.

For the contrasting validity date of the licence, the surveyor of the insurance company had dubbed the driving licence of the accident victim as fake and claimed that as per Section 3 of the Motor Vehicles Act, no person shall drive a motor vehicle in any public place unless he holds an effective driving licence issued to him, authorising him to drive the vehicle. 

However, the commission said as there was prima facie no alteration on the driving licence, he should not be a sufferer for the negligence of the Transport Department.

The State Commission had imposed Rs 25,000 fine on the DTO and directed ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. to pay Rs 2.73 lakh to the victim.

The insurance company has already paid Rs 2.73 lakh compensation but the DTO didn’t bother to pay Rs 25,000. For non-compliance, the district forum has issued bailable arrest warrants against the DTO for December 5.