4 transport officials under scanner for fitness certificate fraud

Bengaluru: The president of the Federation of Karnataka State Private Transport Associations has lodged a complaint with the Commissioner of Transport and Road Safety, alleging large-scale irregularities in the issuance of Fitness Certificates (FC) to nearly 10,000 out-of-state vehicles over a six-month period. 

In a letter submitted to the Transport Department on February 12, S Nataraja Sharma accused certain Inspectors of Motor Vehicles (IMVs) of mechanically issuing FCs without conducting mandatory physical inspections as required under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. 

The complaint names Senior IMV Nissar Ahmed and IMVs H M Manjunath, A A Khan and Narasimha Reddy. It alleges that between August 2025 and January 2026, an “unusually high number of vehicles” registered in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala were certified within short spans of
time. 

According to the figures cited, 646 FCs were issued in August 2025; 1,168 in September; 1,813 in October; 3,383 in November; 2,057 in December and 955 in January 2026. 

A majority of these certificates are alleged to have been issued by a single officer, predominantly for vehicles from Maharashtra and Gujarat, Sharma
said. 

He also questioned whether mandatory checks such as brake testing, emission verification, structural compliance and safety equipment inspection were actually conducted, given the volume of certifications, urging the Transport Department to carry out a thorough investigation by examining CCTV footage, Vahan portal records and manual
registers. 

“My sources filed an RTI application through which we were able to get hands-on data which points towards wrongdoings. It is alleged that there are 155 such inspectors who might be guilty but I don’t have data to prove that. Once I get data, I will file a complaint on the rest,” Sharma told
DH. 

Investigation in progress

The Transport Department is currently carrying out an investigation on the basis of the complaint. 

Among the four accused, Nissar Ahmed was already suspended in January for illegally issuing FCs to Gujarat-registered vehicles without physical inspections. 

“He was found to be guilty and immediately suspended a few days before his retirement,” said Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, adding that the department had already begun investigating the remaining three IMVs once the letter was receIved. 

“I’ve given them 15 days time to investigate. The complaint might claim 10,000 vehicles but we will do our own investigation,” he said. 

He also added that while geofencing has been installed at transport offices across Bengaluru, offices across the state are likely to get it by February 20. Geofencing is a location-based service that creates a virtual, software-defined boundary around a physical geographic area using GPS and WiFi. “Once we have it installed everywhere, it will not be possible to provide FCs without physical examination,” he added.