Go Digital, Not Home To Get License: Madras HC Rules Drivers Need Not Carry Physical Copies of Driving License

The Madras High Court has ruled drivers need not carry copies of driving licence and any other documents of the vehicle, as electronic copies of them would be valid, reports Livemint.

In 2017, the Tamil Nadu Traffic Planning Cell issues a memorandum saying drivers who do not carry original documents will be prosecuted under Section 130 and Section 177 of the Motor Vehicle Act. Various transport bodies had challenged the rule. The court disregarded all such petitions as “infructuous” after recording the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways last month.

The Ministry wrote to all state governments notifying the amendments in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. According to the notification, people can show driving licence, vehicle registration certificate, insurance, permit and other documents in either physical or electronic form, when demanded by the police officer or any other official.

The union government has asked state transportation departments to make sure compliance and enforcement officers are aware of the latest provisions to avoid any harassment of citizens. The step is marks a great stride for Digital India Mission and citizen-centric governance.

The government is also planning to promote the use of DigiLocker of the mParivahan app, to keep e-copies of other documents related to the vehicle and driving licence safe. The DigiLocker which is linked to both the Aadhaar card and cellphone numbers eliminates the use of physical documents as a part of the governments Digital India drive due to all the data being stored in the cloud.

Scanned copies of the documents (JPEG, PDF or PNG format) can be uploaded on the app and accessed from anywhere. The new rules state that even if there is a traffic rule violation, there is no need to produce physical copies of the documents as the seizure can be done by the traffic police department electronically through the VAHAN/SARATHI database through the e-challan system.