- Bribe Fighter
- 13 years ago
- 1485 views
RTO Encourages Touts & Bribery, consciously
It's a pretty simple process and mind you "just a process". But, it's a pity how even this process has become a money-extorting racket by the RTO.
I just finished paying-off my 3 year car loan to HDFC Bank. The bank sent me a NOC that needs to submitted (mind you just "submitted") to the RTO to clear-off the hypothecation from their records. The legitimate fees, as I now find out, is only Rs.250.
First of all, no proper info is available as to the process, the documents or the office where I had to go to. I had to make phone calls to a nearby ********** Motor Training School and my Car Dealer (Spectra Motors) to get info. Both promptly told me to come with Rs.1500 and "the agents" would get it done. They said Rs.450 was official fee and the balance was to "manage the RTO Staff".
Next, I went to the Wadala RTO office, which is where I got my license from and which logically should be where vehicle owners of my area go. Even this office is very remotely located, enough to take a good measure of time, money and effort. Surprisingly, I was told that since I had a private car, the relevant RTO office is the one at Worli-Prabhadevi, opposite the Passport office.
So, off I march to Worli, by auto, train and taxi. There, I am referred from window 1 (Enquiry), to window 12 to window 13 to window 14, back to window 9 (fees). The clerk at counter 13 looked at me as though I was a criminal, and made preaching comments on not writing minor things on the form. In the middle, while I filled words, he took up other forms (purportedly from touts/agents) and made me wait. Finally after spending the whole morning & noon, I was told to come again next week for a "minor formality" after which they would take another week to despatch my RC Book (Card).
If people get tired reading this long account of my story, how much more tiring it would be to actually undergo it. And mind you, IT WAS ONLY A SMALL PROCESS to de-hypothecate my car. I am pretty convinced that at the INCONVENIENCES that are put before the citizens are very consciously put, so that any citizen will justify to himself/herself shelling out Rs.1500 as fees to save time and effort.