A fresh controversy has emerged in Uttar Pradesh over the operation of outsourced driving license (DL) services, with private employees engaged in license processing and printing accusing regional service provider agencies of collecting large sums of money in exchange for jobs and withholding wages for months. The complainants claim that up to ₹3 lakh was collected from each employee for recruitment and retention, resulting in a total unverified collection of around ₹1.20 crore from 40 workers. The affected employees have submitted a comprehensive complaint to the Chief Minister, seeking a high-level inquiry and immediate action.
According to the complaint, the dispute relates to the outsourcing model under which driving license processing, data management, and printing services are carried out through private agencies working alongside the state transport department. Employees allege that certain agencies exploited the recruitment and reappointment process to extract money from job seekers and existing workers.
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The Dismissal and Rehire Exploitation Loop
The workers claim that driving license-related services across the state are handled through three service provider agencies that employ private personnel at Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and associated sub-centres. These employees are responsible for assisting with various administrative and technical tasks related to license processing.
According to the complainants, a major disruption occurred in November last year when around 320 private workers across the state were abruptly labeled as middlemen and removed from service. The decision left hundreds of families facing sudden financial uncertainty. Employees claim that after the dismissals, the agencies began rehiring some of the workers while also recruiting new personnel to fill the gaps.
The operational breakdown inside the service providers followed a highly irregular pattern. The sequence opened with the sudden blacklisting phase, where hundreds of certified data processors were summarily dismissed under the tag of external intermediaries. This transitioned directly into the financial extraction stage, with the agencies allegedly demanding ₹3 lakh from desperate re-entrants and new candidates to secure active station postings. The cycle concluded with complete wage confinement, forcing the remaining staff to process daily RTO data pools for over half a year with zero salary disbursements.
Withheld Salaries and Financial Hardship
The allegations extend significantly beyond unfair recruitment practices. Employees have also accused the management nodes of failing to pay regular salaries despite continuing to take heavy data-entry work from them for several months. According to the complaint, workers have been performing their core administrative duties for the past seven months, yet most have received only one month’s salary during that entire operational period.
As a result, many employees claim they are facing severe financial hardship, rising debt burdens, and extreme difficulties in supporting their families. The affected employees noted that many initially agreed to arrange the cash demands because they feared losing their primary livelihood, but those who later refused to allow further arbitrary salary deductions were allegedly terminated from their jobs.
Demands for Structural Monitoring
The workers allege that repeated formal complaints lodged against the service provider agencies at the regional transport level have not resulted in any meaningful regulatory action. Frustrated by the institutional silence, they have approached the Chief Minister directly, requesting a state-level intervention and an independent investigation. Their complaint seeks identification of the agency directors, full recovery of the illegally collected onboarding money, and immediate settlement of all pending wages.
Labour and governance experts note that if the allegations of recruitment-related collections and salary irregularities are substantiated, the matter could involve not only severe violations of basic labour laws but also broader concerns regarding transparency and oversight in public service delivery. They argue that outsourced government-linked operations require robust monitoring mechanisms to prevent the direct exploitation of workers and ensure data accountability inside public transport hubs.
