Story of Driving License

I am sharing this out of my personal experience, in the year 2014 I accompanied a dear friend of mine to Ghazhiabad Tahsil office for issuance of learners driving license. When we reached there suddenly many self claimed service providers approached us and started offering help. Everybody was coating a different price tag for a learners license and later on for a permanent driving license.

As an inquisitive mind I inquired from them why the variance between the price was so much between the offering service providers? One of them started boasting that he had a direct connection with the license issuing authority there and he would insure us of first the learners license and later a permanent license without standing in the queue and without waiting period and more importantly without going through any required driving test as prescribed under the law. Initially, we believed that it was a fake promise but immediately he gave us example with an instance of a client who was ready and willing to offer him occasion for service.

We were really surprised at this because, the officer who was supposed under the law to see that everything was in order before a person can be issued a license, at least this much that he knew properly to handle a motor vehicle and that too on a public street did not even bother to see him personally and that fellow walked with a driving license and lord knows which part of the country he must be driving because under the Central Rules it is valid for all over the country. We came out and after a while we went there and approached the same gentle man and it was repeated in our situation as well. Though we were very happy that the whole burdensome exercise was over in few minutes for little money but that impression and guilt still quenches me whenever I recall that situation.

Shishir Pinaki

(Author is a Supreme Court Lawyer)