Punjab Transport Dept divides licence issuance work between RTOs, SDMs

Rajmeet Singh

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Chandigarh, December 17

In order to streamline the work of issuing driving licences (DLs) and registration certificates (RCs), the state Transport Department has bifurcated the work between the Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) and Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs).

Three RTAs have additional charge

• Officers handling the work of Regional Transport Authorities (RTAs) in Jalandhar, Ferozepur and Bathinda have the additional charge of the Transport Department and the RTA in Patiala is yet to be posted
• The RTAs handle the work of the state carriage permit renewal, time-table and transfer of permit, among other works

Now, RTOs will be responsible for issuing DLs and RCs of transport vehicles in their respective districts and for non-transport vehicles at the district headquarters only.

The SDMs will be responsible for issuing DLs and RCs in their respective subdivisions, except at the district headquarters.

A government functionary said additional transport officers will also exercise the powers entrusted with RTOs. Though the department has appointed RTOs in all the 23 districts, all are yet to start functioning due to technical and infrastructure issues at the offices. This was resulting in harassment to vehicle owners.

In May, a Cabinet decision was taken due to a large pendency in the issuance of driving licences and document registration, besides work related to commercial vehicles.

The AAP-led government has reversed the decision of previous the Congress-led regime by scrapping the posts of district transport officers (DTOs) and empowering 81 SDMs to handle the work of registration of private vehicles and issuance of licences.

Previously, work related to commercial vehicles was handled by 11 Regional Transport Authority (RTA) offices, where registration of all vehicles, licensing, permit issuance and tax collection was done.

Of the 23 Regional Transport Offices, eight are to be headed by a department officer and PCS officers would be posted at the remaining ones.

In the past, SDMs were unable to check traffic violations and duties related to the Transport Department as they were busy in the implementation of government schemes and hence transport-related work suffered.