The renewal of the Driving License (DL) of a senior citizen of the city has been withheld by the Regional Transport Officer (West) after 55 years and 14 renewals, citing that the senior citizen was under-age when he got his first license in 1958.

T.N. Harin Nanja Raje Urs had submitted an application to the RTO (West) for renewal of his DL on July 15, 2013, after paying the prescribed fees, days ahead of the license getting expired. He was issued an endorsement (No. 5088413) the same day with an assurance that the application will be considered within a period of 30 days from the date of submission of the application.

In a letter to the RTO, Harin stated that it was more than seven weeks now and he had not heard anything about the DL renewal, though it was told by the RTO officials that the same will be delivered home by post and for this purpose the RTO had taken a self-addressed stamped envelope also. When the renewed license did not arrive even after seven weeks, Harin visited the RTO office to check its status.

Harin, speaking to Star of Mysore, said that the RTO told him that the first DL issued to him was when he was under-age (below 18) and hence, could not be renewed. Harin was 17 when he got his DL for driving Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) on May 16, 1958. Then he was not considered by the issuing authorities as under-age even though he gave his correct birth date showing that he was 17 at the time. More over since then he has been regularly renewing the license periodically, the last renewal being on Aug. 12, 2008, valid for a period of five years till Aug. 11, 2013.

Harin asked “When the authorities have renewed my DL held by me for the past 55 years, 14 times, why is the issue of under-age being raised now?” It may be mentioned here that a similar case had been reported in Bangalore recently in which a 70-year-old man named R. Jayaram, possessing a 54-year-old DL, renewed 17 times since, had been refused the renewal of his DL by the RTO on the ground that his age in the original license was shown as below 18. The RTO officials are said to have told Jayaram that the software installed in RTO office will not accept an age entry below 18 and have suggested that he apply afresh for a DL. Jayaram, a resident of Rajajinagar, got his DL for the first time in Nov. 1959.

Jayaram’s date of birth was mentioned as Aug. 31, 1943.

An anxious Harin told SOM, “I have been abiding by the law and had submitted for renewal of DL to the RTO days ahead of it getting expired. Now that it is past the expiry date, I feel as though I do not exist and am committing some serious offence. Hope the RTO understands my plight and issues me with a renewed license as applying for a new DL, right from obtaining a Learners’ License is very tedious for a senior citizen. Also if they say it is a software problem, then may be the software must be fixed instead of harassing senior citizens”.

Courtesy : Star Of Mysore