Kerala Motor Vehicles Department implements faceless services amid bribery scam

An illicit bribery scheme has been uncovered within Kerala’s Motor Vehicles Department (MVD), involving the use of secret codes ‘TR 6’ and ‘TR 7’ to pass defective vehicles during fitness inspections. Under the ‘TR 6’ system, officials allegedly pool bribe money collected through intermediaries to grant fitness certificates to vehicles that were initially rejected for defects. The ‘TR 7’ code refers to higher individual payments made to officers who accept the risk of approving vehicles with severe non-compliance, such as disconnected speed governors or illegal mechanical modifications.

In response to such irregularities and the influence of unauthorized middlemen, the MVD announced that starting September 21, all 60 of its online services will become faceless and Aadhaar OTP-authenticated. Transport Commissioner C Nagaraju stated that this move aims to protect applicants from exploitation by commission agents who often stall applications to demand money. The department is working with the National Informatics Centre and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to ensure all services are linked to Aadhaar-based mobile verification, reducing the need for physical RTO office visits.