Govt Orders To Review Sarathi Portal LapseLucknow: The UP transport department has registered an FIR against four employees of a private service-provider company and suspended 1,017 driving licences (DLs) after an investigation found serious irregularities in their processing through the Basti Regional Transport Office (RTO).The action follows a detailed inquiry ordered by the transport commissioner after complaints surfaced regarding driving licences being issued through backlog entries without proper verification of supporting documents. Officials said the probe revealed that all 1,017 licences under scrutiny appeared prima facie to be fabricated and had been processed without mandatory checks.Based on the inquiry report, senior assistant regional transport officer (administration) Mala Bajpai lodged an FIR at Kotwali police station against service-provider company employees Pankaj Yadav, Praveen Yadav, Abhay Pandey and Sufiyan Ahmad. The department has accused them of scrutinising licence applications without adequately verifying the required documents.A committee constituted on the directions of the transport commissioner examined records, application data and digital entries linked to the licences. The panel concluded that backlog entries associated with all 1,017 licences appeared suspicious and prima facie fabricated. It also found that the scrutiny process was carried out by service-provider personnel without proper examination of relevant records.Transport department officials said all 1,017 licences have been suspended with immediate effect, while proceedings for their cancellation have also been initiated. The inquiry report described the role of the service-provider employees as prima facie serious and indicated that the irregularities appeared to have been committed in an organised manner and possibly in collusion with others involved in the licensing process.The case is part of a larger controversy surrounding driving licences generated through backlog entries in Basti. Investigators had earlier found instances where licences carrying Basti addresses were linked to applicants from Arunachal Pradesh. Questions were also raised over the issuance and modification of heavy motor vehicle driving licences through the system.The latest action comes after the state govt suspended two regional inspectors Sanjay Kumar Das and Seema Gautam following a separate technical investigation into the alleged licence racket. Govt also recommended disciplinary proceedings against the two officials, holding them responsible for approving applications related to address changes in heavy driving licences.To probe the matter, govt had constituted a technical team, comprising additional transport commissioner RK Vishwakarma, deputy transport commissioner RR Soni and National Informatics Centre official Piyush Srivastava. The team visited Basti, examined physical records and digital data and collected key documents that were later taken to Lucknow for further scrutiny.Investigators also flagged a technical limitation in the Sarathi portal, the software platform used for driving licence services. According to officials, the portal does not display complete data relating to backlog entries for heavy driving licences, making it difficult to identify the district or state from which an entry originally originated. The limitation prompted govt to order a detailed technical examination of the suspected network.RTO (administration) Fariuddin said all records sought by govt-appointed technical team were provided during the investigation. He said the inquiry established that a large number of suspicious licences had been generated in Basti and that the matter remained under examination at govt level.
