Lucknow: Transport commissioner Ashutosh Niranjan on Tuesday suspended motor vehicle inspector Sanjay Kumar Das and ordered departmental proceedings against motor vehicle inspector Seema Gautam over alleged irregularities in the issuance of driving licences at the ARTO office in Basti.The action follows an investigation which found that Das approved 785 licences and Gautam approved 213 licences without proper scrutiny. In all, 998 licences were found to have been issued without the mandatory checks prescribed under the established procedure.A letter was also sent to the Anti-Corruption Organisation, UP, seeking a vigilance inquiry against both officers.During the probe, officials examined the computerised records of the Basti office and data obtained from NIC Lucknow. The investigation report was submitted on Aug 31, 2026.The transport commissioner noted that driving licences have been issued online through the Sarathi portal across the state since Apr 1, 2013. However, certain licences issued by the Basti office after that date were processed as ‘backlog’ entries.The inquiry found that before approving licence applications, officials failed to properly verify the ‘Extract of Driving Licence’ and ‘Application Personal Details’ available on the Sarathi portal. In several cases, copies of existing driving licences were not uploaded with the applications.The probe also found that address proofs submitted for changes in licence records were not subjected to the mandatory verification process.Proceedings have been initiated to cancel the licences found to be irregular. The department is also taking steps to remove employees of the service provider company allegedly involved in the matter and register FIRs against them.
