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PIL against fake driving license racket : HC directs SP Una to lodge FIR
Shimla, May 15
Himachal Pradesh High Court has taken a serious view of the alleged fake driving licence racket involving residents of Una district and directed the Superintendent of Police, Una, to register an FIR if any cognisable offence is made out during the inquiry.
The Division Bench of Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi also ordered constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a senior officer and sought a status report before the next hearing on June 23.
During the recent hearing on this matter on May 8, HC referred to several specific cases and irregularities placed before it:
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In one case, a driving licence was shown as an “Indian Union Driving Licence, Madhya Pradesh”, but the issuing authority mentioned on the document was “DTO Itanagar”, which pertains to Arunachal Pradesh.
At the same time, the licence number carried the “UP” code generally associated with Uttar Pradesh, while the licence holder Mukesh was stated to be a resident of Una district in Himachal Pradesh. The Bench termed these discrepancies glaring irregularities.
In another instance cited by the court, a driving licence purportedly issued by the Bihar government carried the name of an Assistant RTO from Sultanpur, while the licence code contained the initials “MH”, linked to Maharashtra. The beneficiary again was allegedly a resident of Una district.
The court also noted a suspected Aadhaar-linked identity fraud case. According to the Bench, the Aadhaar number of Manjeet Singh of Una was found to be identical to that of another individual, Hardeep Kumar, raising suspicion of forgery and manipulation of identity records for obtaining licences.
The Bench observed that many beneficiaries whose Aadhaar cards were attached with these licences belonged to Una district, despite the licences allegedly being issued from different states across the country.
This, according to the court, prima facie indicated issuance of fake or suspicious licences to persons who were not residents of the concerned states.
The High Court made it clear that police authorities need not wait for the final outcome of the PIL proceedings and must immediately begin criminal investigation wherever offences are disclosed.
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