With the Transport Department reeling under severe staff shortage, nearly half the Regional Transport Offices are being managed by in-charge officers. The department is also facing a huge crunch of Inspectors of Motor Vehicles (IMVs) — the officers on the ground to manage vehicles.
Of the 2,812 sanctioned posts in the department, 1,262 were vacant as on April 1, 2018, with the vacancies most pronounced in the categories of IMVs (298 out of 430 posts vacant), senior IMVs (76 out of 214), Assistant RTOs (58 out of 103), Deputy Commissioner of Transport-cum-Senior RTOs (11 out of 15), RTOs (19 out of 35), and ministerial staff.
Karnataka has 66 functional vehicle-registering offices — 46 Regional Transport Offices and 20 Assistant Regional Transport Offices, which should be headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Transport-cum-Senior RTO or an RTO, depending upon the classification of the office. Besides, an RTO or DCT-cum-Senior RTO, every office should at least have two ARTOs (transport and non-transport section). With 10 probationary RTOs being given independent charge, at least 16 of the 46 RTOs are being manned by in-charge officers now.
Yet, the department has been earning good revenue, with the latest of ₹5,954 crore in 2017-18 coming mainly owing to road tax collected on the mushrooming number of cars and two-wheelers. On the other hand, the expenditure has been less than 3%, thanks to the government’s apathy towards filling posts.
The Balehonnur-based activist Shankaranarayana Bhat, who obtained the vacancy details under the Right to Information, told The Hindu that the revenue collected would have been at least 20% more if all the vacancies were filled. Severe crunch of IMVs and Senior IMVs, who are department’s legs on the ground, has severely affected enforcement and checking of tax evasion on commercial vehicles, Mr. Bhat said.
Shortage of inspectors has also affected the monitoring of vehicular pollution and fitness, thereby endangering public safety. As IMVs are also to undertake inspection of vehicles involved in accidents, there is either an enormous delay in the process or the submission of namesake reports, he added.
A senior inspector is DCT here
Mangaluru appears to be a classic case of ‘in-charge’ arrangements, with the Transport Department making a senior Inspector of Motor Vehicles (a Group B, junior scale post) the in-charge Deputy Commissioner of Transport-cum-Senior Regional Transport Officer (Group A, senior scale).
Mangaluru, one of the highest revenue-earning offices, next only to those in Bengaluru, last had a regular DCT-cum-Senior RTO in Afzal Ahmed Khan, who retired about three years ago. Though one or two regular RTOs were posted, they did not remain for long.
Since then, Assistant RTOs, and now a Senior IMV, have been put in charge of the office. Though an Assistant RTO was recently posted there, the Senior IMV continues to be in charge.
According to a senior department official, this is illegal. A DCT-cum-Senior RTO is required, among other things, to conduct Regional Transport Authority meetings, and an IMV is not empowered to do so.