Hyderabad: Delay in renewal of driving licence to cost dear

Hyderabad: Renewing driving licence one year after its validity ended is a thing of past as the Transport Department has decided not to renew such licences at all. One has to go obtain a learner's licence first following all the norms laid down by the department for a new permanent licence.

According to sources, the Centre has brought a provision in the MV Act rules that if the motorists do not renew their license even after one year of expiry of the license, the motorist would have to go for retest including learner's license tests and pay fee for all categories of licenses once again. The State government has started implementing this from December 24 where a motorist, who could not get his license renewed one year after the expiry date, was asked to go for learner's license.

The rule until now was payment of a late fee of Rs 1,000 per year and the grace period was for five years. However, there are some exemptions in case of the driver being out of town or in another country. Now the motorists are directly asked to go for retest.

A motorist Irudaya Raj K, a resident of Lalaguda, Secunderabad, applied for renewal of his license to drive auto rickshaw, non-transport and motorcycle with gear. The validity of his license was June 30, 2018. When he approached the RTA office for renewal of his license with late fee, Irudaya Raj was asked to go for retest including learner's license and also the driving test.

According to transport unions, the latest move by the authorities is nothing but ways to make more revenue. They want to take money for every class of vehicle only to fill the coffers. If there are three categories in a vehicle (two-wheeler, four-wheeler and heavy vehicle), the fee for adding every class of vehicle would be Rs 300. The motorists would be ending up by paying Rs 2,000 and more for getting the license with three categories, the unions alleged.

The motorists especially with a transport licence cry foul over the new rule, which is brought by the department. The union leaders said that the transport license would be expensive because after taking the learner's license, he would have to get a medical certificate and also training certificate from the Health Department to get the badge. The driver would have to wait for one month to get the permanent license until then the he cannot use the vehicle during the training period.

"The government is only focused on increasing their revenue. With this, many will become unemployed as they cannot take their lorry, auto or cab on the road. If I take out a vehicle with a learner's license, my vehicle will be seized and my family would come onto the road," said The Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union general secretary M Dayanand.

He said the government should have given an advertisement in the newspaper about the new rule. Without giving any information in advance, it has implemented a new rule, said Dayanand.