PESHAWAR: A row has erupted between the directorate of transport and the traffic police over vehicular licensing, with the former seeking car licensing powers and the latter wanting to take over the commercial vehicle licensing task.

In 2017, an amendment to the Provincial Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1965, tasked traffic police with issuing driving licences for cars, jeeps, bikes and invalid carriages, while the transport department was authorised to handle licences of commercial vehicles, including both heavy and light transport as well as public service vehicles.

Sources told Dawn that the issue flared up after reports emerged that several fake Pakistani driving licences were allegedly used to obtain licences in Hong Kong and Australia.

Transport directorate seeks powers to issue car licences, while police want to take over commercial vehicle licensing

Currently, the matter is being probed by the transport department.

On August 19, the city traffic police wrote a letter to the DIG (headquarters) of the provincial police, seeking the return of powers for issuing driving licences for LTVs, HTVs and PSVs to the police department from the transport department.

In the letter, the police said they had been issuing driving licences for motorcars, bikes and LTV and HTV since 1970s as the practice was in vogue throughout the country.

It, however, said in 2008, the transport department was established to handle transport policies, route licensing and other issues, without the mandate to issue driving licences.

The police added that in 2013, the transport department was allowed to issue LTV and HTV licences, disrupting the system and causing public confusion.

They said that recently, the Pakistani High Commissioner to Australia has written to the KP police chief along with 32 driving licences for verification.

“The verification exercise revealed that a number of car and motorcycle driving licences were issued by the transport department in a sheer violation of Rule 5 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1965, and Motor Vehicles Rules, 1965. All licences issued are illegal and invalid,” the police maintained in the letter.

They noted that they’re recently approached by Hong Kong authorities along with a list of 89 people, who were issued fake Pakistani driving licences and verification letters.

“None of the 89 individuals apprehended had obtained licences from the traffic police,” the police said in the letter.

They said they had made driving licence branches functional in all districts under the district police officers, equipped with testing facilities and computerised records stored securely in three locations.

The police added that a centralised data record management system stored data on all challans and offenders and thus, enabling licence cancellation.

They noted that the gap existed due to the transport department authority over LTV and HTV licence issuance.

“Recently, traffic police collaborated with Nadra through a memorandum of understanding to further enhance transparency, security and integrity of driving licences issuance process,” it said.

The police also raised questions about the transfer of LTV/HTV licensing authority to the transport department insisting the move prevented integration with the broader national network, resulting in inefficiencies and service delivery challenges.

“Quality of service being provided by the traffic police in issuance of motorcar licences can [be] independently verified publicly through a third party. Moreover, various incidents of issuance of fake driving licences have already been highlighted nationally and internationally that substantiate the stance that the licensing authority should remain with the police department to ensure transparency, accountability and public trust,” it added.

On the other hand, the transport directorate wrote a letter to the secretary of the transport and mass transit department on August 21, requesting him to seek the car licensing task from the police for it.

“In order to obtain HTV licence, an applicant has to bring no objection certificate from the police to the transport department and then later has to verify before processing the file of such applicant, making it hectic and causing inconvenience to the public.

“For the ease of the general public, the transport department moved a summary to chief minister KP in April 2023 for transfer of motor car licensing from police to transport department. However, no decision was made due to the caretaker government,” the directorate noted in the letter.

It added that the transport department had operational field formations in all districts and could handle the issuance of motorcar driving licensing.

The directorate accused the police of misusing authority and continuing to illegally issue commercial driving licences and urged the department to take up the issue at appropriate level to stop the police from the practice.

When contacted, the police declined to comment on the matter.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2024