Telangana not to toe Centre's line on provision of driving licence

Hyderabad: Even as the Centre is proposing to provide driving licence with the certification issued by the driving schools, the State government is not prepared to do so because of lack of monitoring of the driving schools, which have mushroomed in the city illegally during the past few years.

The intention behind the proposal of the Centre is to provide facilities to the citizens and to avoid inconvenience at the RTA offices besides curbing corruption. As per the new proposal, the applicants can submit the training certificate from the driving school in which they have taken the training.

After paying the prescribed fee along with the documents, they would be issued a driving licence. The proposal is to be started from the month of August but the State government authorities are not prepared.

According to the official sources, there are not many driving schools which are running as per the rules and implementing the Centre's orders may not be possible at this juncture. Of late many driving schools have come up in the State and many do not have proper license. According to sources, some of the driving schools have taken license for one but are running many schools.

The rules pertaining to driving schools were framed after a ruling from the High Court during the undivided Andhra Pradesh. As per the rules, a diploma holder in Automobile Engineering can only run a driving school. There should be a classroom, office, rental agreement for setting up of the driving school.

The trainer should possess a heavy driving license. The local motor vehicle inspector should inspect the driving schools and check for the license of the driving school. The local RTO should visit the driving school once in every six months and should note down the details of the candidates who have undergone the training and submit a report.

The official sources said that presently there is no system to monitor the driving schools. When asked, a senior official he said, "The department was not taking any such measures right now. The system would require streamlining of the driving schools and they would take a decision after clarification from the government."

The Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union general secretary M Dayanand speaking toThe Hans India said, "There are over 700 to 800 unauthorised driving schools in the city alone. There is no monitoring of these schools and there is no information on how many authorised schools have renewed. The government should first streamline the system before implementing any initiative."