Practical test for vehicle licence to be videographed: Delhi govt to HC

The Delhi government told a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar that the entire exercise has been put into operation, starting Monday, in all the 13 zonal offices of the Transport Department, and an agency has been appointed to record the video.

The Transport Department also apprised the high court that the video of driving tests would be uploaded on its website.

Noting the submissions, the court said the step would bring in more transparency in the entire mechanism and would go a long way in allaying apprehensions of corruption.

It directed the Delhi government to file a compliance status report in eight weeks and posted the matter for next hearing on May 22.

The government had earlier told the high court that it has taken steps to control the issuance of fake licences and has also revoked the licences which were improperly granted.

The Transport Department had displayed the list of such revoked licences on its website and has taken steps to ensure compliance of provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act, it said.

The high court was on Monday hearing a PIL filed by activist Pawan Kumar, who has alleged that some corrupt officials of the Delhi Transport Department were issuing driving licences to untrained and unskilled people after taking hefty bribes.

There has been a spike in number of road accidents leading to death of innocent persons due to issuance of direct heavy transport vehicle driving licences to unskilled persons, the plea had said.

The petitioner had contended that this practice has been going on since 1997 and sought a CBI probe into it so that erring officials can be dealt with in accordance with law.