- Bribe Fighter
- 14 years ago
- 3190 views
RTO officials turned "rigorous" after being denied bribe!
This happened actually a few years ago. In 2006 December, we 10 people, all research students from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, decided to go for a trip to Wayanad. I was the one responsible for the travel and accommodation arrangements. Being aware of the bribing habits at the check-posts, we enquired about the amount of money we need to give at the check-posts as tax, at the travel agency. The guy there told me that it will cost around Rs. 3000/- and we just have to pay to the driver. We enquired further and told him that we don't want to pay any bribe and then the amount came down to around 2200/-. I checked up with the MVD website of Kerala, and found (at that time) no information regarding the fee. Any way, we decided that we will directly pay the money at the counter. So we left. At the Sultan's Battery RTO check post (I think at Muthanga), we stopped at the RTO check-post. I went to pay the tax, and the official there, told me Rs. 500/- is the amount. So I gave him a 500 rupee note. He gave me the receipt, and it was showing only some 350 or so (do not rememeber exactly). I asked for the balance. Then the guy started nodding his head and with perplexed "smile" told me "OK". I again asked for the balance. He again nodded. My voice became firm, and then he suddenly started inspecting the documents of the vehicle (A tempo traveller) carefully and returned the entire documents with us, marking with a red pen at a point. I looked at that and shocked to see that the Insurance of the vehicle has been expired!!!. The travel agency has given us a vehicle with no insurance, and the RTO guys are inspecting it ONLY because I refused to pay bribe. My adrenaline levels shot up and I felt dizzy. I asked my friends to tackle the issue. Another inspector who was observing all these commented that we can stay there for two days!!! He was obviously irked at the denial of the bribe. After a few minutes of waiting, and seeing probably that I am speaking Malayalam and because I have questioned them, the officials gave us a fine receipt for another 380 rupees. We paid that amount exactly and left the place. But what was intriguing us, was the doubt on the exact rules. Are we allowed to ply on the road without a valid insurance by just paying fines? Probably the officials worried that we would take up the issue with the higher authorities. But if we had met with an accident, we would have been in trouble. The travel agency got their share after we went back to Bangalore. This is a lesson, if you do not want to give bribe, you have to do your planning better, check thoroughly the vehicle papers etc before hand.