Around 500 fake driving licences issued illegally by the Office of Transportation Management, Butwal, were converted into genuine licences in Birgunj.

Bhushan Yadav | CIJ, Nepal

• Suraj Sharki from Benimpur-7, Nawalparasi, was issued a driving licence (01-08-00887780) for car/jeep (category ‘B’) on May 9, 2015, by the transport office in Butwal. On May 7, 2020, the day the permit was set to expire, Sharki was issued a licence to drive trucks, buses, and lorries (category ‘F’ and ‘G’). He, however, didn’t get his licence renewed until December 28, 2020, when he got his permit renewed from the transport office in Birgunj.
• On December 28, 2020, the transport office in Birgunj renewed the category ‘A’ and ‘B driving licence (01-08-00887778) belonging to Bigyan Ghimire from Benimpur-1 and issued on March 31, 2013. It added categories ‘F’ and ‘G’ to it.
• Ram Lal BK of Siktahan-6 Rupandehi received his car/jeep (category ‘A’/ ‘B’) licence (01-08-00885503) from Lumbini Transport Office on July 8, 2005. Three years later, the office added bus and truck to the list of vehicles he was allowed to drive. However, he visited the transport office in Birgunj to get his licence renewed on December 25, 2020.
• Ramdev Tiwari of Rupandehi, Khudabagar-4 received his category ‘A’ and ‘B’ licence (01-08-00903830) on March 8, 2012. On the day his licence was set to expire, ‘F’ and ‘G’ categories were added to it. Just five days after this, the Lumbini transport office renewed the licence for five years. The licence was set to expire on March 8, 2020. However, he got it renewed from the Birgunj transport office on February 11, 2021.
• The Lumbini transport office issued a category ‘A’ and ‘B’ licence(01-08-00903831) to Mithlesh Kumar Mishra from Khudabagar-3, Rupandehi on March 8, 2012. ‘F’ and ‘G’ categories were added to the licence the very day it was set to expire. The licence, which was renewed by the Lumbini transport office on March 12, 2017, was set to expire on March 12, 2021, but he got it renewed from Birgunj transport office on February 11, 2021.

All the aforementioned driving licences are not registered with the Department of Transport’s Driving Licence Registration System (DLRS). This means that none of the above-mentioned men sat for a written or a practical exam to get their driving licence. This can be inferred from the fact that the records of individuals who have passed the exams since 2011 are maintained in the DLRS. However, the licences under the spotlight were issued illegally by the Lumbini transport office, Butwal, without making entries to the DLRS.

New licence in name of renewal

The unregistered licences issued by the Lumbini transport office are now being registered at the Birgunj transport office in the name of ‘renewal’. When such a licence is renewed, it is recorded in the Electronic Driving Licence and Vehicle Registration System (EDALVRS) and becomes a genuine driving licence.

Before the DLRS was implemented at the transport office in Butwal in 2011, officials used to maintain records of driving licences on paper files. The details of all licences issued after 2011 need to be entered into the system. Sharki received his driving licence in 2015, four years after DLRS was implemented at the Lumbini transport office. However, his details haven’t been entered in the DLRS. Similarly, details of Ghimire, who received his category ‘A’ and ‘B’ driving licence in 2012 and category ‘F’ and ‘G’ licence in 2017 are not available on the DLRS. The details of BK, Tiwari, and Mishra are also not present on the DLRS.

Officials from the Butwal transport office’s record-keeping department are behind this anomaly. Office chief Tej Narayan Yadav, who started work on September 17, alleges that contract workers recruited in the past were involved in corrupt practices. “The contract workers used to be changed every 15 days. The management of human resources was found to be weak. We plan to complete digitising all paper-based records by November and lock the system so that the loophole can’t be exploited again.”

Fake licences issued in Butwal, by only making entries to paper files even after the EDLRS was implemented, are being converted into genuine ones at the behest of officials at the transport office in Birgunj. Middlemen involved in the issuance of fake licences in Butwal moved to Birgunj after their activities were scrutinised in Butwal. According to a source at the Birgunj transport office, around 500 people from Butwal renewed their licence in Birgunj in December 2020 alone.

 Those visiting the transport offices to get their licence renewed need to complete five steps. First they need to go to the records department to verify that a record of their licence exists, then get their biometric and photo taken. After that, they need to undergo a medical check and pay a renewal fee.

Anup Raj Ghimire from Ranighat, Birgun who recently got his licence renewed in Birgunj, says, “The process requires that you present a genuine driving licence. But those 500 individuals who received fake licences in Butwal and got them renewed in Birgunj didn’t have to go through the five steps.”

A source says, “Some of the people who renewed their licence in Birgunj even have errors related to their citizenship number on their driving licences.”

Butwal transport office’s information officer Umesh Regmi, however, said that his office didn’t seek any documents from the applicants as their licences were already registered in Butwal. “Our office has already become ‘paperless’,” he said. “The documents needed in the past are no longer required.”

It was found that the applicants who wanted to get their licences renewed had to only submit a copy of their licence, which could be fake, and their citizenship certificate. The procedure to verify that the licence was genuine was skipped. According to government rules, papers presented before the transport office need to be maintained for three years. However, Regmi says the transport office doesn’t maintain such records.

183 licences cancelled, what about the rest?

During the course of the investigation, it was found that the issue of fake licences has surfaced not just in the case of Butwal, but also Pokhara, Lahan and Janakpur. Individuals who were issued fake unregistered licences from these offices come to Birgunj to renew their licence and get it registered.

The transport office in Birgunj is re-examining the files of individuals who renewed their licence from the office, says office chief Sushi Sah Kanu.

 “We have already cancelled 183 licences that were issued by the Butwal office and renewed in Birgunj. We have informed the department requesting further investigation,” he added.

The office cancelled 183 of the 500 suspicious licences on August 20. For further investigation, it wrote to the Lumbini transport office on August 27, said Birgunj transport officer Ram Ayodhya Ram.

In his letter to Butwal, Ram has requested the Butwal office to investigate 183 licences issued by the Butwal office and registered in the system without following due procedures. The office has also written to the Department of Transport Management to cancel the licences.

Most of the people who were issued fake licences have added the heavy vehicle category to their licence without taking the practical exam. According to rules, an individual can receive a licence for heavy vehicles only two years after receiving a licence to drive light vehicles.

 “As it is not possible to get a licence to drive heavy vehicles without waiting for two years after getting the licence to drive light vehicles, middlemen are making arrangements for people to get backdated licences for light vehicles so that a licence to drive heavy vehicles can be issued immediately,” a staffer at the Birgunj transport office says. According to the staffer, an agent demands Rs 80,000-130,000 do so.

 Who is involved?

It was found that agents switched to Birgunj transport office after their attempts to get fake licences issued by the Butwal office renewed in Butwal itself failed. As staffers in Butwal were reluctant to issue backdated licences, ‘driving institute’ operators and agents moved to Birgunj.

Officials at the Birgunj transport office have been in cahoots with agents involved in corrupt practices for a long time. As the number of staffers in Birgunj authorized to approve licences is limited, an investigation by the department will immediately reveal the names of the people involved.

According to a source at the office, only seven officials, including the office chief are authorised to approve driving licences. The six people are: Bhola Sah, Arvind Das, Ram Baby Raya, Ram Ayodhya Ram, Umesh Regmi and Amit Das. The office’s assistant accountants Manohar Niraula, Rambalak Yadav and Raghunandan Jha prepare invoices.

According to sources, most of the individuals have had their photo and biometric taken in Butwal itself. The source said that individuals are getting their licence renewed in Birgunj without even coming to the city.

Butwal transport office chief Keshav Aryal said that he doesn’t know who made unauthorised entries to the paper files to issue unregistered licences. An investigation will reveal who is behind this, he added.

Some officers at the Birgunj office say that they were offered money to carry out the task. “But when we refused, they might have found someone else to do the job,” they said, “As only seven staffers have access to the system, it’s not difficult to find out who is involved,” an officer said.

The office isn’t authorised to carry out such an investigation. It has to be carried out by the department.

Officials have also found cases where fake licences were issued in Pokhara, Gandaki, and Lahan and Janakpur, Province-2 and applications to renew them were filed in Birgunj. “We have been unable to look into those cases due to work pressure,” office chief Sah said. “We have directed officials concerned to investigate renewal applications for licences issued in Pokhara, Janakpur, Lahan, and other cities.”

Applicants need to go through a medical test before they can apply for a renewal of their licence. For this, they need to be present at the office to see a doctor. Two years ago, Dr Ram Iqbal Raya won the tender to provide the medical test service at the Birgunj office.

Raya has stationed himself at the office to carry out medical checks. However, in the case of individuals who applied for renewal of licences issued in Butwal, Raya issued them a certificate of health without even seeing them.

Raya claims that he hasn’t issued any certificate in the absence of the relevant person. “I don’t issue a certificate if the applicant is not physically present,” he said. “The 183 applicants whose licence was revoked had also come to Birgunj.”

Meanwhile, the office has expelled Ram Binay Chaudhary from the renewal department and Shyam Binay Chaudhary from the accounts department. Both were temporary employees.

According to knowledgeable sources, low-level staffers can’t carry out such an operation without the knowledge of higher officials. The applicant first needs to deposit fees in the bank and the accounts department issues an invoice based on the copy of the bank voucher that the applicant presents. The invoice states from where the licence was originally issued. “When the office chief approves the application, he clearly sees from where the licence was originally issued. That so many requests were coming from Butwal should have raised the flag and prompted the office chief to act,” the source said.