The original incidence of this story occurred in 1982. At that time R.T.O’s office, Ernakulum was functioning in the second floor of the private bus stand building at Kaloor. I was working as L.D clerk in that office at that time and was handling registration section.
In those days there was an auto agent named Philip at that office. Owner of an ambassador motor car entrusted the records of an ambassador motor car with him for transferring the ownership of the vehicle in his name. After collecting the fee and his service charges from the owner of the vehicle Philip got the ownership of the vehicle transferred to the name of the purchaser and the R.C book and other records were collected from R.T Office and records were kept with him for handing over to the owner when he turns up for collecting them.
After some days the owner of the vehicle approached Philip for collecting the records of the vehicle. But unfortunately the records of the vehicle were found missing from the place where Philip was carrying out his business. Philip searched for the records on every nook and corner of the place, but could not find it out . So Philip told him in an appeasing tone to come after a few days, by which time he promised to trace out the records and give to him.
When the owner approached Philip after some days, the earlier story repeated and nothing new has happened. Some months went like this during which the owner has approached Philip several times for his records. But the problem was not solved and the records were not handed over to the owner which resulted in exchange of bad words and even manhandling also took place between them.
By this time the owner realized that only solution for this problem is obtaining a duplicate R.C from R.T.Office. So he applied for a duplicate R.C through Philip himself and the same was obtained after following the formalities like publishing the matter in a local daily. This time the R.C was received by the owner direct from the office to avoid further missing.
Second part of this story happens after about one year, by which time R.T.Office has been shifted to Civil Station at Kakkanad. During that time also I was handling registration section in that office. As this incidence was a very controversial all the office staff was aware of the vehicle name and owner of the vehicle was also known to many of them.
When a vehicle is included in an office by transferring the ownership of the vehicle, in those days a communication named CRTI has to be sent to the original registering authority by the present registering authority regarding the inclusion of the vehicle in that office. The general format of the intimation is given below. Vehicle No--------- registered by you in the name of ----------- has been transferred with effect form-------- to the name and address of -------------------------------------.
A CRTI sent by R.T.O Thrissur, in respect of the ambassador car mentioned in the above incidence was received in the R.T.Office, Ernakulam during this period. As I was in registration section the above CRTI was received in my section. But when I tried to enter the details of the CRTI in the concerned register popularly known as B register, I found that the name of the previous owner mentioned in the CRTI, does not match with those entered in the register.
As some foul play was suspected in this case, R.T.O Thrissur was addressed intimating the fact and requesting to furnish the registration particulars of the vehicle in question. The registration particulars of the vehicle was received in due course of time, say three of four weeks.
Then only the real facts behind this was
revealed. The vehicle mentioned in the CRTI and the vehicle with the same
number included in R.T.Office, Ernakulum were entirely different vehicles. When
this fact was realized a detailed letter was sent from R.T.Office, Ernakulam to R.T.O Thrissur intimating the
fact and requesting to take necessary steps to take the vehicle included in
that office into custody as it was a fake vehicle.
From the above it is clear that the agent
named Philip has utilized the orginal RC
of the vehicle for another stolen vehicle and this vehicle has been sold to a
person at Thrissur. Recording of
Transfer of ownership of this vehicle could have been done easily as the
vehicle need not be produced for
effecting transfer of ownership. But when CRTI information regarding the
transfer ownership of this vehicle was
received at R.T.Office, Ernakulam, the
discrepancy in the name of the previous owner was noticed which lead to the
revelation of the real facts.
Similar types of cases may be still
happening, leading to the operation of original vehicles with duplicate RCs and
stolen vehicles with original RCs. So it is advisable that when one person buys
a second hand vehicle, it is better to get the vehicle inspected by a person
who is very conversant with these matters and ascertain that no tampering has
been done either in the chassis number of engine number of the vehicle.
