Basti RTO Licence Scam: 1,017 Driving Licences Suspended, FIR Against Four Staff
The Uttar Pradesh transport department has registered an FIR against four employees of a private service-provider company and suspended 1,017 driving licences after an investigation found serious irregularities in their processing through the Basti Regional Transport Office. The action follows a detailed inquiry ordered by the transport commissioner after complaints surfaced regarding 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.
In Short
- 1,017 driving licences tied to Basti RTO backlog processing have been suspended; cancellation proceedings have begun.
- An FIR names four service-provider staff: Pankaj Yadav, Praveen Yadav, Abhay Pandey and Sufiyan Ahmad.
- Earlier action suspended MV inspector Sanjay Kumar Das and opened proceedings against Seema Gautam over hundreds of irregular approvals; a Sarathi portal review was also ordered.
What the inquiry found
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. Lucknow readers already watching transport crackdowns, such as Lucknow e-rickshaws facing mass scrapping, will see the Basti numbers as a statewide integrity test rather than a distant district file.
Earlier action on inspectors and Sarathi gaps
The latest action comes after the state government suspended two regional inspectors, Sanjay Kumar Das and Seema Gautam, following a separate technical investigation into the alleged licence racket. Government also recommended disciplinary proceedings against the two officials, holding them responsible for approving applications related to address changes in heavy driving licences.
An earlier Times of India report from the Lucknow desk said transport commissioner Ashutosh Niranjan suspended Das and ordered departmental proceedings against Gautam after finding that Das approved 785 licences and Gautam approved 213 licences without proper scrutiny — 998 licences in that count — and that a letter went to the Anti-Corruption Organisation seeking a vigilance inquiry. Driving licences have been issued online through the Sarathi portal across the state since 1 April 2013, but certain Basti licences after that date were processed as “backlog” entries.
To probe the wider network, government 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 later taken to Lucknow. Investigators also flagged that the Sarathi 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 — a limitation that prompted a detailed technical examination. Governance watchers comparing other UP probe stories, including the Kanpur municipal bungalow SIT probe, will note the same pattern: digital backlog tools plus weak human scrutiny.
- FIR station: Kotwali, against four named service-provider employees.
- Immediate effect: 1,017 DLs suspended; cancellation proceedings started.
- Prior inspector action: Das suspended; proceedings against Gautam; ACO vigilance letter reported earlier.
Why it matters
A fabricated driving licence is not a paper error; it is a road-safety and identity-fraud risk that travels with every heavy vehicle on UP highways. Freezing 1,017 Basti-linked licences and naming service-provider staff in an FIR is the state’s signal that Sarathi backlog shortcuts will not be treated as clerical noise. For Lucknow, where transport policy and enforcement decisions are announced, the Sarathi review will decide whether other districts face the same clean-up.
Sources: Times of India, Times of India (earlier action)
