A day after the Delhi High Court extended the deadline for issuing 10,000 fresh auto-rickshaw permits in the city, officials said the process would likely be initiated soon.
“The process will be completed within the stipulated two months. Applicants will be asked to sign an undertaking stating that they have not held a permit to operate an auto-rickshaw in the Capital before. If the claims are found to be false, penal action will be taken against them,” the source added.
Last month, as the July 31 deadline to add 10,000 more auto-rickshaws mandated by the High Court inched closer, the Transport Department, according to a senior official, had filed a plea requesting more time for the allotment of the permits.
Old records
This was following a decision by the State Transport Authority (STA) to scrap old records of ownership which were restricting the issuance of new permits to such drivers in May. The decision was taken in view of the problems being faced by auto-rickshaw owners who wanted to replace their vehicles after the completion of 15-year tenure, but could not do so as several other autos were found “illegally” registered in their names in the database, said a government official.
Before August 8, 2012, there was no bar on owning more than one auto-rickshaw. The registered owners of the auto provided photocopies of their commercial licences, PSV badge and address proof to the financiers to take loans against their vehicles.
Misuse of documents
These documents were, according to the official, used by the financiers to register numerous other auto-rickshaw in the name of one person without his knowledge.
Now, the permit holder whose name has been used in registration of multiple autos will have to register an FIR claiming he does not have any other vehicle, besides furnishing an undertaking to the registering authority in this regard.