Reportedly, RMV work, including 1 million vehicle number plates and 300,000 driving licenses, has piled up due to the absence of a chief.

It is reported that the day-to-day administrative and service delivery functions of the Department of Motor Traffic have been severely disrupted due to the post of Commissioner General remaining vacant for nearly two months. After the former Commissioner General was arrested on a legal issue and removed from service in late March, the responsible authorities have not yet taken steps to permanently appoint a new officer.

Due to this, the internal functions of the department are proceeding at a very slow pace, and the public who come to obtain various services are also facing extreme difficulties.

Departmental sources reveal that due to this stagnation and slow process in institutional administration, approximately 1 million vehicle number plates and 300,000 driving licenses are currently piled up without being printed. Hundreds of thousands of customers who have paid the relevant fees and waited for years have not yet received these licenses and number plates, with some driving licenses being delayed for about 5 years and vehicle number plates for about 2 years without being issued.

Due to the severe delay in officially obtaining vehicle number plates, many vehicle owners are resorting to paying private institutions to get temporary number plates made. This forces them to incur additional expenses, and security forces warn that preparing number plates privately without proper standards could encourage various criminal activities. As public dissatisfaction with this leading state institution, which generates significant revenue for the government, is increasing daily, officers working in the department are also urging authorities to immediately appoint a Commissioner General and streamline its operations.

When inquired about this situation, Mr. Tharaka Deshapriya, Additional Commissioner General of the Department of Motor Traffic, stated that the Ministry is expected to make a policy decision regarding the administrative situation that has arisen after the arrest of the former Commissioner General. Out of the 25 district offices of the department, 11 are directly connected online, while the remaining 14 offices operate offline. The delay in receiving documents from these offline offices by post once every two weeks has been a major cause of the delay, and steps have been initiated to connect these 14 district offices to the online system in the future to resolve this issue.

Although the printing of driving licenses was previously delayed due to a shortage of cards, the Additional Commissioner General states that about fifty percent of them have now been printed and steps have been taken to mail them, with the additional labor contribution from the Sri Lanka Army and the National Youth Services Council. With one million new cards expected to be received within the next two months, the backlog in issuing driving licenses will be completely eliminated. Furthermore, plans have been made to commence printing vehicle number plates through a new supplier from June 10th, through which it is expected to promptly print and clear all the accumulated old number plate backlogs.