After avoiding dealing with government offices all these years, finally I am in the trap. Needed to visit RTO to renew my DL. After 2 trips to RTO I am still not able to prove to the officials where I stay. As per the RTO, I need some govt agency (be it LIC, BSNL, BESCOM, KEB) giving me my proof of my residence. I tried persuading them with Airtel landline bills, bank statements, letter from office, lease document, self declaration etc. But the gods at RTO did not accept the offerings. I have a choice of using 2000 Rs of Prasadam via their priests which I am restraining so far.
Sent following query to the Grievance cell. Will update here when I get the response. Otherwise there is a shortcut to god via priests!
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Dear Sir / Madam:
I am trying to renew my driving license. As I am residing in a rented apartment I am not able to produce required address proof as per the ARTO at Electronics City, Bangalore.
I have following queries in this regard:
- I use Airtel for my landline connection. However the ARTO has confirmed that only BSNL phone bills are acceptable as address proof. I am not able to comprehend this as it denotes unfair treatment to private players. Would like a confirmation whether this is true. Your FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS document (http://rto.kar.nic.in/FAQcss.html) is unclear in this regard as it only talks about telephone bill (intentional omission perhaps)
- The above mentioned document also mentions "Self swearing Affidavit by an applicant before an executive Magistrate or a First Class Judicial Magistrate or a Notary Public as evidence of age and address". This also has been ruled out by the ARTO as a valid address proof. Either this information is incorrect on the website of I am being victimized.
Kindly, reply to my queries.
Best Regards,
Raghvendra Varma
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Comments
Why only BSNL bill?
Definitely doesn't make sense Raghu. Why should they accept only BSNL? It is like mocking at private players, or accepting that govt can't make private landline players do proper address checks.
And why would they rule out "Self swearing Affidavit by an applicant before an executive Magistrate or a First Class Judicial Magistrate or a Notary Public as evidence of age and address"?
For people living in rented places, only #10 or #3 LIC policy (again there, why only LIC??) makes sense, as all others would usually be in the name of the owner. How do they manage then?
BTW, for RTI: The address where you will need to send RTI is at: http://rto.kar.nic.in/pia...
And here is a how-to on RTIs. Tons of resources on Internet as well. Just need 10 rupee postal orders. when you are at it, buy 3-4, may come handy later. Address it to the relevant PIO (from above link).
DL address proof
Raghvendra Varma,
Getting a phone connection (incldg mobile ph), whether pvt or BSNL now requires proof of address. I think this is possible with a copy of the rental agreement, isn't it ?
Also, electricity bill or water bill are listed. Any problems encountered with using this for DL ? Are they demanding that these must be in your own name ? This is impossible for rented properties.
The relevant RTO seems to be dodging your application. If the response from grievance cell is unsatisfactory, you can file an RTI, as suggested by SB above.
RTO Change of address
Hi,
I am plannig to get Change of address in my driving License(without bribe). All my documents like license/passport/bank has old address. I dont know from where to start the change of address. I think changing bank address is easy compared to others(since it is pvt bank, RTO may not agree to that as proof of address )
I stay with my parents. House of constructed by my father, so all the document has my father's name.
Rgds
Nag
why don't we meet Mr Bhaskar Rao?
I was planning to suggest trapping the RTO officials through Lokayukta. But, the problem will remain.
Can we organise a meeting with Mr Bhaskar Rao, the Transport Commissioner, and ask him to have this rubbish redressed. If he comes up with some officialese, perhaps we can then organise a "gandhigiri", and publicise it.
@Murali - Pls do!
Murali Sir,
You should organize a meeting with Transport commissioner. We could first listen to him and his vision for the department. Depending on the mood and situation, we could still hand him over the laundry list of grievances and complaints.
Along with your thoughts I need help to talk to their IT department head to understand their present technology penetration and what extent they are being used and are customer oriented. For that the commissioner could put us in touch with their IT head and then we can find our way finding all the information we could.
-Syed
Update
Sorry for late update on this. I had been travelling.
I have been able to successfully apply for renewal. I got an affidavit done and took a printout of requirements from FAQ page. The ARTO looked at me with dismay and signed! I felt jubilant as if I won a court case. However, this was not without adding to the woes as he made it seem like a mercy.
I went in the afternoon and ARTO refused to sign saying time-up. I got the sign after my colleague talked in Kannada. It seem apparent that afternoon session (beyond 2:30) in RTO seemed to be exclusively for the touts. As the process is smooth and fast in the afternoon (less crowd and you are made to feel privileged).
There is no reply from the grievance cell on the query though!
congrats
@Raghav
I got the sign - meaning the office accepted your application, and the license will be coming to by regd post, right? Congrats.
I expect you have read this post and the ones accompanying it.
Well, persistance pays. But, why does it have to be like that?
cannot change the attitudes
After reading the above post and recent CWG issues I felt we cannot change our attitude..All are money gobblers...they eat money,drink money,sleep money,walk money...No one can change the attitude of our Indians until and unless a comet/meteor strikes us..
Regards,
Pradeep
“An act of charity by the citizens questions the worthiness of the government.”
RTO problems remain - Case from Electronic City RTO
I did not read eaarlier posts regarding address proof problems.
Today I went again to the RTO office in Electronic City and had to meet the same Asst. RTO officer for his signature on the documents (God knows why he has to sign for signature). Learner's test is something that you should be able to give once you pay Rs. 30. Address proof should only matter when you are being issued a License. Anyways....
He told that I cannot be allowed to give even the learner's test since I do not have address proof among the categories that are listed outside. I work for one of the IT companies and took an address proof letter from them on company's paperhead. He denied to accept it and bluntly said that it is as per CMV rule and he is not gone change or do anything against the rules. He will only accept the application if I had one of the four address proofs. Guess what: those are impossible for any new person in town working in private firm to get. They were:
I am struck since the cashier already accepted Rs. 30 for LL and Rs. 250 for Smart Card. I have paid Rs. 280 and now I do not have address proof. Cashier later told me that the receipts are valid for 1 year and if I want to get my refund, I need to go to other section (which window in particular was not specified as he was busy). Caution: Is there any documentation/CMV rule/RTO rule on how long the receipts are valid for?
Since the officer was firm on only accepting one of the above documents, I came back with the hope of figuring out some other way for the change in address. Now when I went to RTO website - http://rto.kar.nic.in/llcss.html
there is a comprehensive list (with other alternatives):
Now I have few questions reagrding this proof of address:
1. Would the RTO officer at Electronic city accept any other document from the above comprehensive list? How do I know before going over there by bus (it takes almost Rs. 35 non/ac bus one-way fare) and asking the same guy about the same?
2. Does Telephone Bill covers only landline phones or does it include mobiles too? This question was asked by Raghav earlier in his RTI but we don't know what is the official reply.
3. Pay-slip by local body is also acceptable. Does an IT company with headquarters in Bangalore, Karnataka considered as local body? If no, what in the holy universe is considered as local body that is not an office of Central or State Govt.?
4. If Payslip from the local body is considered, why wouldn't the proof of address from the same local body on the local body's letterhead acceptable? Isn't demanding paystub kind of bringing trouble on the person applying for license?
5. If foreigners can give any proof of their legal presence in INDIA, why can't I give my passport with original address in other INDIAN State give as proof of legal born and also legal presence in India? {Feels like they love to kiss foreign's A**}
6. Self-swearing affidavit before a Notary Public for proof of address and age is acceptable. This option was not even told to me by RTO. He had time to suggest me that I need to get my address changed in passport and come back over here but not any other option. Isn't this a clear cut case for saying please go through agents and let me get my share of prasadam (me here referring to RTO officer)?
7. Why is that there are so many people in RTO office along with RTO officer. All of them try to harass one poor guy like me who will not know Kannada but strong enough for not paying any extra moolah for the regular procedure such as driver license? Id they are agents, why can't we have agents separate (time as well as queue) from individual people?
8. About my Rs. 280, how do I recover that? What is the procedure of getting it refunded? Isn't taking Rs. 280 by cashier without verifying the documents against the rules that Asst. RTO officer was insisting on adhering to?
Looking forward to get feedback from you folks out there. I am ready to put in extra steps to go several miles ahead and use RTI too if required.
Please advice.
AA