Demand Draft, a ‘Double Deposit’ for agents of RTA

Hyderabad: Taking advantage of people being in a hurry or unable to go to a bank to get Demand Draft (DD), the agents near the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) offices are charging hefty amounts from applicants. Visitors to any RTA office in Hyderabad are spending extra money between Rs 300 - Rs 700 upwards to agents for obtaining DD of particular value.

As per the Motor Vehicle Act Rules 1988, the RTA offices collect payments in the form of demand draft (DD) for vehicles which are seized, second vehicle tax, entry tax for other state vehicles and for violations of MVA like without fitness certificate, driving licence, pollution under control certificate, insurance, permits among others. Several applicants visiting the RTA offices for these services alleged that they are shelling out double the DD of the service value.

According to Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union, for such services, the motor vehicle inspector (MVI) gives a check report based on the violations and decides on the penalty to be imposed on such vehicles. The vehicle owner needs to take release orders from the MVI and should get a demand draft in favour of ‘Secretary RTA (RTA area office)’ towards payment of the compounding penalty.

Union General secretary M Dayanand said that the helpless motorists end up paying more money as they would otherwise have to miss out on their time slot, if delayed. Using the time slot as a rule, agents and officials are fleecing customers.

Motorists alleged that the brokers often collected Rs 300 for a DD worth Rs 50 and Rs 100. Ashok, an applicant at Bandlaguda said he had spent Rs 500 extra than the actual fee just because the officials insisted on him getting DD from the person at the RTA office.

He said that he had visited the Bandlaguda RTA office for registration and while paying for fitness and pollution certificate for an eight-seater vehicle. “I wanted a DD for Rs 6,000 towards the penalty imposed for not going in for fitness and pollution for a vehicle. I just had an hour left and did not want to return to the RTA the next day, so I gave Rs 500 to the agent while the bank charges just Rs 50,” he added. Dayanand said “The corruption was rampant particularly in the RTA offices where there were heavy transactions every day, especially at Khairtabad, Uppal, Bandlaguda, Medchal and Ibrahimpatnam. He pointed out that there were at least two to three persons with DDs near the RTA offices, each of them earning Rs 10,000 and more every day.”

“While there is no provision for agents to sell demand drafts to consumers, the practice is flourishing in the RTA offices,” he added. Adding he said, the department can start online payments or the payments at MeeSeva centres for such services,” he stated.