The 60-year-old, whose driving licence had expired last year, had applied to get it renewed at the Borivli RTO; his new smart card licence, which he got recently, has a validity of October 2014
A Borivli resident was left bewildered recently when he received a ‘renewed’ driving licence that had a validity date of last year. While the senior citizen claims he had submitted all the required documentation, an RTO official said they never received a renewal request form and that only the citizen’s data was transferred from the Andheri RTO to the Borivli RTO.
Rajendra Bhatt shows his ‘renewed’ licence
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The strange case involves Rajendra Bhatt (60), whose driving licence expired in October 2014. Since the new Borivli RTO was about to come up in a few months, Bhatt decided to wait till the Borivli office began operations instead of making the trip to the Andheri RTO.
The receipt issued to Bhatt by the RTO. Pics/Nimesh Dave
“I was told the Borivli RTO would open soon. So, in May, after it began operations, I went to renew my driving licence,” said Bhatt. Bhatt claims he completed and submitted all the required application forms and even underwent the necessary medical tests to get a renewed licence.
He said he paid Rs 262 as fees but, when he got his new smart card licence, it bore a validity of October 2014. According to RTO sources, a driver is issued a licence that is valid for 20 years. However, after he crosses the age of 50, further renewal is only for five years.
Bhatt claims he had categorically asked for his driving licence to be renewed, for which he also underwent medical tests and presented his medical reports.
The other side
“As per our records, Bhatt has not filed for renewal. In fact, he only transferred his data, which was with the Andheri RTO, to our RTO,” said an official from the Borivli RTO. The official added that Bhatt had not submitted Form 9, the required document for renewal of a licence, nor had he paid R200, which is the renewal fee.
The Borivli RTO has been facing many issues related to transfer of data. Sources said that, initially, when the plan of the RTO was mooted, data of more than 5 lakh people who stay between Dahisar and Goregaon was to be transferred to the new office.
Officials are now struggling to verify the data that was handed over to them by the Andheri RTO in May. RTO sources conceded that due to a staff crunch, it is difficult to verify the needs of every individual coming to the RTO.
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