License to Drive or License to kill vulnerable road users : Dr. Kamal Soi

License to Drive or License to kill vulnerable road users : Dr. Kamal Soi

Chandigarh 30 April ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : Punjab’s driver licensing system is under national scrutiny, following widespread allegations of corruption, fraud, and systemic failure. The public’s trust in the Regional and State Transport Authorities has been seriously eroded, with damning revelations triggering state-wide outrage. Dr. Kamal Soi, Ex-Vice-Chairman, Department of Transport, Government of Punjab and Chairman of Raahat - The Safe Community Foundation, in a press conference raising questions over working of the department, has sought immediate launch of where Microsoft’s HAMS (Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety) system for conducting Driving competency Tests, further seeking suspension and prosecution of all reinstated smartchip employees, who have been accused of tampering with video evidence besides other serious allegations. Dr. Soi said, On April 7, 2025, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau conducted massive raids across Regional Transport Authority offices and 32 Driving Test Centres across the State. The crackdown led to 24 arrests of government officials, private agents, and employees involved in bribe-for-license schemes and 16 FIRs registered, based on specific complaints and tip-offs. “Top officials like Ramandeep Singh Dhillon were arrested, while Pardeep Singh Dhillon (RTO Mohali) and Ravinder Kumar Bansal (RTO SBS Nagar) absconded — raising questions of internal leaks. Shockingly, the Vigilance Bureau failed to arrest these officers despite having evidence, leading to a show-cause notice against then-chief SPS Parmar, who was ultimately suspended along with two other senior officials. This incident exposed not just corruption, but institutional protection of the accused”, he stated. Prevailing System, Smart chip Scandal & Systemic Manipulation of Automated Tracks Raising questions on the working of Smartchip company, previously awarded contracts for all 32 automated driving test tracks in Punjab, had long been accused of Tampering with video evidence, Reusing old test footage, Running tests using proxies, Operating vehicles repeatedly for multiple fake applicants, In the garb of automation, control lies with the operators Though Smartchip recently withdrew from its contract, its former employees were retained by the Transport Department of Punjab and given them the same responsibility of conducting DL Tests — effectively allowing the same ecosystem of malpractice to continue unpunished, he added. Post the exit of Smart Chip company, the Transport Department took over the operations at Tracks, however, did not bother to remove any loopholes/ Lacunas from the system which have purposely been kept to exploit the system and make quick money. Dr. Soi said, Investigations have revealed that, Fake candidates had their names linked to copied videos of earlier passed applicants, Vehicles were used again and again with different applicants' names and Applicants registered on the Sarathi portal at one centre had their test conducted at another, often by someone else. “Thats why I am saying that Lakhs of DLs which have been issued under this corrupt system are not the License to Drive but a License to kill innocent and vulnerable road users”, he said. Dr Soi explained, In 2022, Transport Minister Sh. Laljit Singh Bhullar, along with other officials, visited the IDTR, Dehradun where Microsoft’s HAMS (Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety) system is being used for conducting Driving competency Tests. Impressed by the fully automated, proxy-free, and tamper-proof nature of HAMS, the Minister had suggested and announced its implementation in Punjab, starting with a Pilot test run at Mohali. The Transport Department initiated its implementation and procured all necessary infrastructure and technology and carried out civil renovation at the Track. However, it’s been more than six months that the HAMS system is ready to be launched at Mohali, still pending. Despite a systemic collapse of the current licensing mechanism in Punjab, the Government is still not implementing it. The question arises here – Are there vested interests which are actively blocking HAMS to protect corrupt networks? If so, who all are involved?, he questioned. He said implementation of HAMS can provide Facial recognition of the candidate throughout the test, eliminating proxy drivers, Real-time, tamper-proof video analysis of driving performance, No manual interference, Automatic AI-based scoring, reducing human discretion and Full transparency and accountability for each test conducted.