Vehicle owners in Lucknow and across Uttar Pradesh may soon complete several transport-related services, including vehicle registration and transfer of ownership, without visiting Regional Transport Offices (RTOs), after the state government reached a consensus to implement an auto-approval mode for 52 transport services. The move to make transport services fully faceless has, however, prompted transport department employees to raise concerns over verification and fraud risks.
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Meanwhile, representatives of the Uttar Pradesh Regional Transport Employees’ Association met transport commissioner Ashutosh Niranjan on Monday to oppose the new system. Association president Sanjay Kumar Singh said employees support faceless public services, but approval and verification powers should remain with the transport department to ensure accountability and compliance with the Motor Vehicles Act.
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Under the proposed system, applications submitted through the transport department’s online portal will be approved automatically if they meet the prescribed criteria. Officials said the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Common Service Centres (CSCs) have been asked to make the necessary changes to the portal before rolling out the system.
“Consensus has been reached to implement the auto-approval mode. It will provide significant relief to applicants. A total of 52 services have been brought under the system, which will also improve transparency,” UP transport minister Dayashankar Singh said on Tuesday.
Employees also cited issues encountered under the fully online learner’s driving licence system as a cautionary example. They said applicants have faced Aadhaar-related data mismatches, OTP failures, smart card download problems and instances where learner’s licences were allegedly generated in the names of deceased persons. Similar technical and procedural issues, they warned, could arise once more transport services are brought under the automated system.
Despite repeated calls and messages, the transport commissioner did not respond to Hindustan Times’ requests for comment.
Of the 52 identified faceless services under the Sarathi and Vahan portals, 10 are already being processed through auto-approval, while another 12 have recently been cleared for rollout. The remaining services will be implemented in phases after the online portal is upgraded to support the new approval mechanism.
