KATHMANDU, Feb 15: The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has already written letters to Nepal Police four times, requesting the latter to investigate the illegal distribution of driving license. However, an investigation by the police into the matter is yet to begin.

The director general of the DoTM, Uddhav Prasad Rijal, has written to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police on four different occasions,urging the police to investigate the matter.

According to DoTM sources,  the director general of the DoTM, Rijal again made correspondence with the CIB on February 12 after not receiving any response to the previous correspondences.

The DoTM first wrote to the CIB on January 28, urging for an investigation. Two more correspondences were made on February 6 and February 8 respectively. The DoTM made the fourth correspondence to the CIB on February 12, urging for an early investigation. The fourth correspondence was made after Director General Rijal was assaulted by a group of middlemen responsible for issuing illegal licenses.

After the promulgation of the Constitution of Nepal 2015, many licenses were issued illegally when the jurisdiction of the transport offices that conducted the written tests and trials for providing license was handed to the provincial governments.

Since the provincial governments were not technically ready for license distribution, the DoTM under the federal government was responsible for distributing  licenses and printing smart licenses. During the same period, licenses were issued illegally.

Director General Rijal formed an inquiry committee under the coordination of Mukesh Regmi, undersecretary and head of the Information Technology Section at the DoTM, to investigate the illegal distribution of licenses on behalf of the DoTM. 

Section Officer of the DoTM, Arjun Adhikari, IT engineer Bodhraj Baral and CIB DSP Tapan Kumar Dahal were the members of the investigation committee. A report submitted by the team raises questions on the employees of the DoTM regarding the irregularities in driving license distribution.

The DoTM concluded that the illegal distribution of licenses is a criminal act and asked the CIB for further investigation. The committee, in which DSP Dahal of CIB was involved, pointed out that further investigation should be done. After that, the  DoTM requested the CIB to conduct an independent investigation. Director General Rijal insists that he made correspondence with the CIB regarding the matter long ago.

Director General Rijal said, “Security challenges are increasing day by day since there is no investigation into the illegal license distribution.”

According to him, although the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) will investigate the matter of corruption, the CIB has been requested to investigate this particular issue because issuing illegal licenses is a criminal act.

“It has been found that licenses have been distributed without trials which is a criminal act. It is our desire that there should be a fair investigation. The DoTM has also investigated and facilitated it,” said Director General Rijal.

Meanwhile, CIB chief AIG Kiran Bajracharya said that a detailed investigation has been started after the DoTM requested them for an investigation.

“The CIB is serious about activities like distribution of licenses illegally. That is why we have increased vigilance,” said AIG Bajracharya.

Over 100,000 licenses were illegally distributed over the past 10 years. As many as 28,000 licenses issued by transport management offices only have numbers. It is presumed that these licenses could have been issued any time. The DoTM had begun an investigation after it was revealed that in the last 10 years, as many as 102,000 service seekers had obtained licenses from 35 transport offices across the country without taking the written tests and trials.

The DoTM conducted the investigation after it was found that licenses were issued by manipulating the Electronic Driving License and Vehicle Registration System (EDLVRS) without complying with the legal provisions in the Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act and Rules.

The DoTM has sent the investigation report to both the CIAA and the CIB. The report mentioned that the roles of 10 directors general at different times are questionable. Also, the report includes the names of the directors general and the employees in the IT section who were at the DoTM at the time when the licenses were issued illegally.

The report mentions that the directors general, who had headed the DoTM at various times, had encouraged the illegal distribution of licenses by not restricting their subordinates.

The committee investigated the license distribution process from 2072 BS to 2080 BS. According to the sources, it has been found that the licenses were distributed without written and trial examination with the involvement of high-ranking employees of the DoTM for kickbacks.

The report states that two under secretaries and five computer engineers of the DoTM were directly involved in the illegal distribution of smart licenses. Shrichandra Shah and Pabitra Dangol were working as Information Technology Director in the Information Technology section of the DoTM when the driving licenses were distributed illegally.

Similarly, Rajkumar Maharjan, Keshavraj Gautam, Kapila Shrestha Thaiba, Santosh Pokharel and Suraj Prakash Aryal were working as computer engineers. Maharjan has been promoted to the position of an undersecretary.

Aryal has now been transferred to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. He is currently working under Maharjan at the ministry. Bhanu Bhakta Joshi has been working as a computer engineer at the IT section of the DoTM for a year. In the past, the committee called all the technical staff working in the information technology section for statements, but only computer engineers Pokharel, Aryal and Director Dangol gave their statements.

 
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