April 05, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 4: Advisor to the prime minister on interior affairs Rehman Malik on Friday ordered to suspend the traffic police officials of the Licensing Branch and launch a departmental inquiry into the absence of the staff which caused inconvenience to the license seekers on Thursday, sources said.

The action has been taken after a row erupted between additional deputy commissioner (ADCG) and senior superintendent of the Traffic Police when the latter refused to issue the driving licence to a person, a favourite of the ADCG, who failed to pass the driving test.

Acknowledging the issue, a senior officer in the administration told Dawn that the officials had developed a dispute that was continuing but hoped that it would be resolved “sometime in the next week”.

Sources told this reporter that the ADCG had sent two persons to the traffic police office for getting the licences. One of them passed the test and got the licence but the other failed to qualify and complained to the ADCG.

Later, the traffic police did not allow an impersonator to appear in the test on the behalf of the person who could not pass the test earlier.

On this, the ADCG called the line officer of the traffic police and told him “they should also not expect any favour from him in future”.

On Thursday, the ADCG called the motor vehicle examiner in his office and directed him not to conduct test for light transport vehicle (LTV) and heavy transport vehicle (HTV) licence seekers. As a result about 150-200 licence seekers present in the traffic office failed to appear in their test and later staged a protest.

When the matter was brought to the notice of the SSP, he lodged a complaint with the deputy commissioner.

When contacted, a senior official of the city administration said that in practice the LTV and HTV tests were conducted by the traffic staff, but, he added, according to a law only secretary Regional Traffic Authority was eligible to conduct it.

The ADCG in written told the SSP and deputy commissioner to stop the “illegal practice” and conduct the test as per law, he added.

“The administration would have tried to resolve the issue between the two officers if the complaint were lodged verbally but now it was in writing and now the administration is bound to ensure that in future the test is conducted as per law,” the official said.