Major inter-state vehicle fitness certificate renewal scam busted at Beed RTO; 5 booked

Beed, Jan 9 (PTI) Major irregularities in the renewal of vehicle fitness certificates running into several crore rupees have been uncovered at Beed Regional Transport Office (RTO) during an audit, following which five persons were booked, an official said on Friday.

Certificates were allegedly issued without any physical inspection of vehicles through private Automated Testing Stations (ATS) located outside Maharashtra, he said.

Around 320 vehicles registered in Beed district were issued fitness certificates from ATS centres in states including Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, the official said.

"After an internal cross-verification by the RTO, a case was registered at Beed Rural police station against five agents operating from other states. The number of accused could rise as the investigation progresses. The fraud came to light during a reverse audit conducted by the Beed RTO," he said.

"It exposed irregularities running into crores of rupees. The probe found that fitness certificates were renewed in violation of Section 56 of the Central Motor Vehicles Act and Rule 62, bypassing the legally mandated inspection procedures," he said.

The vehicles were never physically presented at those centres and were given certificates on the basis of uploaded photographs, he added.

This scam poses a serious threat to road safety, the official said. PTI COR BNM