"Bureaucracy always has its lag!!" - Trying and tiring bureaucracy

Let me begin by defining what bureaucracy is "a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives."

I have no intention to make this a lecture, sorry if the beginning made anyone feel so. 

Now lets get right into why I wrote this blog. I am trying for past 2 years to get a road tax refund from the Kerala RTO unsuccessfully! I was trying to move my car registration from KL to KA and get my road tax refund. Now any Indian would say, isn't this just how our government office works, whats new?  I guess, its time we ask why the hell on earth are these government things taking so long. Everyone is cognizant of this, but no one is taking any action. I can only rant so much. Here is where i stop being judgmental and give you true story. 

I am an Indian Citizen who grew up as a lower middle class. Like any middle class family, buying a car was a dream. Cutting short, I did buy a car finally in 2012. Since at the time I was working abroad, my friends from Kerala helped me to buy a car registered in Kerala and deliver the car to Karnataka where my mom was working. This was my gift to mom for her birthday. To be frank I was not conscious of different state road taxes and the consequences. I completely agree this is my mistake, not trying to wash my hands off my responsibility.

Fast forward 2 years, in 2014, is when I heard about the Karnataka traffic coming down heavily on non Karnataka vehicles, more so in Bangalore city. Now the intention of officers trying to book non Karnataka vehicle is a discussion for another time. By 2014, mom who did not touch the car for initial six months fearing driving, started using car for day to day activities. I am extremely proud that my Mom is a pro driver now. Being not in Bangalore, I was anxious about the news of Karnataka RTO strict policy. Mom did all the work to get the registration moved from KL to KA. This is when we came across the 1st hurdle of bureaucracy. Took ~ 1.5 years to move the registration from KL to KA. By 2016 we got the new KA registration. And the good news is moving a registration does not mean we get the road tax refund from KL. I still don't understand why is this two different process. Shouldn't this be part of the same process? I know treasury is where you get the refund issued, but its the same RTO office that has to initiate the process of refund.

I will get into the main chain of events now of the tiering refund process. Trying to figure the actual process for refund took me another 6 months. Finally came to know the actual owner has to visit the RTO from where the initial registration was issued, now I have no idea if this is an actual rule or if this is something RTO officer at the time of inquiry just said to my friend to get rid off him. 

Place: SUB RTO

In 2017 Vacation, to be precise in November 2017, I had this on top of my do to list. Drove from Bangalore, picked up a friend from Palghat drove to Trivandrum. Reached the RTO [one of the sub division where my car was registered] at 3:30PM. Ran into office with all the documents. I was directed between couple of tables, finally one of the employee heard me in full. As soon as he looked at the papers told me the usual you expect from prestigious and proud government employee. "Sir this cannot be taken care here. you will need to go to the main RTO in Trivandrum to process this". Any one who comes back for 2-3 weeks of vacation knows they have a never ending to do list. Mine was no different. I had lot of running around pending. I did not have much time planned in Trivandrum. Officer gave me the reason as,  the chalan used to pay the car tax was submitted in main RTO and the registration was done in sub RTO. I insisted that I need him to give me in writing that this has to taken up by Trivandrum RTO main office and not the current one with all due respect and  patience. As usual of government officer who does not want any responsibility , he hesitated. Since I wouldn't move, he had to call a superior officer to ask his advice. He starts the conversation "Sir, I have a case which we shouldn't take, but would like your opinion." As soon as I heard the opening statement, I was sure were this is going. But thanks to heavens, the superior officer wanted to hear the whole thing and directed the guy who I was talking to take the file in. Now he had no choice other than take the file in. Now the best part of this is they don't give you any receipt or acknowledgment. I get the direct line on the desk of the employee who collected my documents for follow up. 

6 months later, since I don't hear anything, my mom calls the officer in March 2018. We are asked to call in 2 weeks.  This goes on for next 3 months. Mom calls him every other week to hear the same thing again and again. I should say mom was really patient!!  Almost after 6-8 calls, By June 2018, he tells us the file is moved to main RTO after successful processing. We were relieved. 

Place: Main RTO

As with government office, we give another 2 months. No news until Aug 2018. One of my friend helped me get a contact from main RTO, who finds the file is not yet in main office. Dear God, Back to square one! We again start calling the old guy from sub RTO office. This new guy also helps us track the status of the file. After another 3 months of back and forth, file moves to main RTO. Ok, are we done. Not really. 

Now I follow up with the guy from main RTO [the one my friend referred] for another 4 months. Another series of follow up on whats app and calls. Finally he tells me the paper is moved to treasury for final settlement. Woo Hooo!!. Now I ask one of my friend to go to treasury to find out whats going on. Guess what I find again !! My papers is not there yet. Not again. Back to following up with the guy at main RTO, goes on for another month or so. Now he tells me they have a letter ready for treasury. Since it did not reach treasury on its own, suggests us to come collect the letter and submit to treasury. I send another friend of mine to get the letter and submit to the treasury. 

Place: Treasury

Nothing has changed. Poor guy takes the letter to treasury 3 times only to be send back. Every time he was send back saying the person to collect the letter is not in office. Can someone explain why does it need a specific person to be in office to collect a letter. Does rest of the table not have space for one letter to be passed on? But government office is always beyond logic. Somehow an officer from treasury felt bad seeing this guy come back 3 times, gives him the number for the missing person. Was asked to call, book kind of an appointment to come back. This is when we take a look at the letter from RTO closely. Guess what we find, the amount of the letter from RTO is totally off. Is 3 times the car value. Now back to RTO guys again. 

Place: Main RTO

Back to main RTO. Now I gather some chalan is missing. Tried to contact the Sub RTO point of contact, who says everything was send out and nothing is pending. Now not sure whats my next step. Hunt still goes on an on....  I can only thank all the help from my friends, officers from these office and keep the faith to continue following up until I get the refund issued one day!

Going through all these trouble, I am not sure where the exact problem within the process lies. But as a layman I have below doubts.

1.  Does government employees does not understand the meaning of things done on timely fashion? Now I might have to define what timely means I guess.
2. Does delay mean lack of human resources or laziness of employees ?
3. Does any process have a time limit set to take action. if not, isn't it high time to set a time limit on each file?
4. Every political leadership comes to power to make everything right. why has not one party been able to drive in the message of discipline and timely action to these employees. Does it show the political clout these employees and their representing organization have on/in every party?

I was just reminded about a dialogue from famous Mammoty sir movie, The King, "Bureaucracy always has its lag!!".