Traffic violators beware, new driving licences, registration certificates coming from October
NEW DELHI: Driving licences (DLs) and registration certificates (RCs) issued by transport departments across the country will have the same look, colour and security features starting October 1. Hiding past violations will be almost impossible as the new DLs and RCs will have the QR code that can be read by hand-held devices to access the past records of the driver or the vehicle from the central online database.
The road transport and highways ministry has issued a notification making it mandatory for the states to follow the uniform norm. However, the states have the option to install extra features such as a “chip” and the near-field communication (NFC) in these cards. The specifications by the Centre said that the chips in these documents must have the capacity to retain information of the driver and the vehicle for 10 years.
The NFC feature is the one which is used in the smart cards for Metro rail and ATMs. “Though there was a proposal to make the chip and NFC feature mandatory, the Centre decided to leave the option to the state governments,” said an official.
The new DLs will have details of a driver’s declaration to donate organs and mention if he/ she is driving a specially designed vehicle meant for the physically challenged.
TOI on October 14 had first reported this reformative move by the Centre to bring uniformity. About 32,000 DLs are either issued or renewed across the country daily and nearly 43,000 vehicles are registered or re-registered.
Another ministry official said, they observed that the format or colour scheme or placement of information was different in different states. “Further, the quality of the cards was very poor. It was observed that the printing used to fade after some time while the licence or the certificate of registration was valid for substantial period,” he added.
