The Road Transport Ministry has directed the states to accept the driving licence, registration certificate or other documents in ‘electronic form’ presented through DigiLocker or the mParivahan app, reported PTI.
The statement issued by the Ministry stated, “The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued an advisory to states to accept Driving Licence, Registration Certificate or other documents in ”electronic form” presented through DigiLocker or mParivahan platform as valid under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and treat them at par with the certificates issued by the transport authorities.”
The advisory included, “If the vehicle registration details on the mParivahan/ eChallan app contain the details of the insurance policy, then the requirement of a physical copy of the policy which is in force, then the requirement of a physical copy of the insurance certificate is not to be enforced,” TOI reported.
This advisory has been issued by MoRTH after receiving multiple grievances and RTI applications from citizens complaining that the digital copy of the documents like Driving License, registration certificates etc present on the DigiLocker or the mParivahan app are not considered valid by the traffic police or the motor vehicles department.
The statement cleared, “The advisory clarifies that the DigiLocker platform of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the mParivahan mobile app of the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has the facility to pull a citizen’s driving license or the registration certificate or any other certificate in an electronic form.”
As per the Information Technology Act, 2000, the digital form of these documents are considered as valid as the original hardcopy of these forms.
The Motor Vehicles Act 1988, and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989, directs the owner or driver of the vehicle to produce these documents to the authorities on demand.
In cases where the documents have to impounded, it can be done via reflecting the seizure in the VAHAN/SARATHI database electronically through the eChallan system.
“There would be no requirement of the physical seizure of such documents. This IT-based online verification of certificates is expected to help the enforcement authority in ensuring the genuineness of the details which further would result in better compliance and effective monitoring,” the advisory stated.