Regional Transport Office

Regional Transport Office (RTO) is an Indian government bureau which is responsible for the registration of vehicles^[1] and the issue of Driver's Licences^[2] in India. Along with this, the RTO is also responsible to collect the one-time road tax during registration, check for vehicle's insurance and clear the pollution test.^[3]

Corruption

RTOs in India have a notoriety of being corrupt and bribing has become an "everyday phenomenon".^[4] In 2000, a survey conducted by the Public Affairs Centre to study the public administration of Bangalore reported that 57% of people had claimed to pay bribes averaging up to ₹ 637 per case.^[5] A different survey conducted by students of Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, in 2011 that gauged 20 police stations and 6 RTOs in Bangalore reported the Jayanagar RTO to be the "most corrupt" and gave overall low ratings to these RTOs.^[6]

In 2014, the then Union Minister of Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari, proposed partial closing of RTOs by increasing online functions in order to curb corruption.^[7]

References

1. "Registering Vehicle". Government of India. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
2. "Obtaining Driving Licence". Government of India. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
3. Rao, Kris (2008). Living and Working in India: The complete practical guide to expatriate life in the sub continent. UK: Hachette UK. ISBN 1848032803.
4. Sen Somit (22 August 2011). "At RTOs, corruption is an everyday problem". Mumbai: The Times of India. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
5. Benchmarking Urban Services: The Second Report Card from Bangalore. Public Affairs Centre. 2000. p. 2.
6. Madhusoodan M K (12 September 2011). "Jayanagar RTO found to be most corrupt". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
7. Baishali Adak (1 September 2014). "Will scrapping of RTOs curb corruption?". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 3 September 2015.