Justice Anil Dev Singh in a strongly-worded order passed early this month directed the transport authority to pay Rs 10,000 in damages to the car owner within four weeks and deduct the amount from the salaries of its three officials who were responsible for issuing the new title deed of a second-hand car.

``The public servants by discharging their duties are not doing any charity to the citizens. They are paid for their job and it is expected of them to do the same honestly and efficiently,'' the judge said while observing that the government officials' tendency to unnecessarily delay matters had to be curbed.

Archana Garg, a resident of Sidharth Extension in south Delhi, purchased a second-hand Fiat from Vinita Kumar on November 12, 1996. After filling up the necessary forms, on November 27 the same year she applied to the Rajpur Road Transport Authority for the transfer of the car's registration in her name. The licencing and registration officials, however, made her run around for over 18 months before finally effecting the transfer in February this year.

The transport authority is a statutory body for registering new vehicles and transferring the title deeds of old vehicles in the names of their new owners following their sale. In her petition filed before the High Court, Garg named Motor Licencing Officer P.W. Desai and lower division clerks Surinder and Anita, all working at the Rajpur Road office, saying their attitude and behaviour during all these months had caused her extreme mental agony and physical inconvenience.

``And there was no explanation as to why this delay took place,'' the petitioner said while urging the court to also consider the matter in public interest as thousands of people were facing similar harassment at the hands of government employees.

While Desai has been asked to cough up Rs 4,000, the balance Rs 6,000 is to be deducted from the salaries of Surinder and Anita. A copy of the order has also been sent to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Finance, for his reference and record.