Islamabad administration Monday launched biometric system in Excise and Taxation (E&T) Department to curb fraudulent activities at the time of sale and purchase of vehicles in connivance with excise officials and the agent mafia.
A number of agents including women remain present at every nook and corner as well as entry point of E&T Department building who have been looting citizens in connivance with excise officials for the past many years. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) a few years ago arrested some agents and fraudsters who were involved in affixing bogus stamps and tokens with fake signatures, besides collection of taxes and excise duties.
While launching biometric system at E&T Department, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Amir Ali Ahmed said that the move would help smoothen registration process of vehicles and curb involvement of agent mafia. Director E&T Bilal Azam Khan said that installation of biometric system at his office would curb agent mafia. It would also help stop the fraudulent activities at the time of sale and purchase of vehicles. The biometric system is compulsory for new registration as well as transfer of the vehicles. This will eliminate the chances of having a vehicle on an open letter, he added.
Under the new system, the purchaser can simply visit any nearby office of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in any part of the country to get his fingerprints verified and then he will give a verification slip obtained by NADRA to the seller. The seller, however, will have to visit the excise department to pay the requisite government fees and taxes, he said.
Fiaq Shah, an ordinary citizen said that the government needs to take steps to ease the process for registration of vehicles as he paid Rs 15,000 last month to an agent to avoid lengthy process of registration.
Recently, in a public notice, the E&T Department has announced that the people who are using vehicles under open letter or old transfer letters and have not transferred the vehicles to their name should go to near excise office and transfer the vehicle on their names. The transfer verification of the vehicles will be done through biometric verification.
It is illegal to drive any vehicle on an open letter from March 01, 2019, as biometric system is now mandatory for buyers and sellers to transfer their vehicles.