The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has issued detailed SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for acceptance of Driving Licence, Registration Certificate and other transport related information presented in electronic form. The Central Motor Vehicles Rules were amended by the Ministry in November 2018, enabling production of documents such as certificate of registration, insurance, fitness and permit, the driving licence, certificate for pollution under check and any other relevant documents in electronic form.
With this revision of rules, it is now not necessary for people to carry the relevant paper documents. However, for the electronic documents to be treated as legally recognized at par with the original documents as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, it is necessary that they are available on DigiLocker or mParivahan app carried by the user. If the e documents are not available on mParivahan or DigiLocker then they will not be treated as legally recognized at par with the original documents
The mParivahan mobile app is being provided by the Ministry of Road Transport & highways through NIC. The details of RC, DL, Fitness Validity, Insurance Validity, Permit Validity are available on real time basis on this mobile app by entering the DL number/ Registration number pertaining to the vehicles.
The DigiLocker platform of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, has the facility to pull a citizen’s Driving Licence or the Certificate of Registration details from VAHAN and make it available in the Digilocker App in an electronic form.
The data related to the insurance of new vehicles and renewal of insurance of vehicles is reflected on the eChallan ap that is available only to enforcement officers.
As per the SOP issued by the Ministry people can produce the documents or other information either through the DigiLocker app or the mParivahan app. They can download the Driving Licence or the Registration Certificate through these apps and store on their mobile devices. They can also show particulars relating to the Driving Licence or the Vehicle through the mParivahan app on the mobile through internet connectivity. The enforcement agencies can simultaneously access these details from eChallan app, which has data for on-line verification of vehicle and its license status. Off-line verification of mParivahan QR Code is also available on this platform. Normal android mobile apps can be used for this purpose.
This benefits both the enforcement agencies as they are not required to physically handle any document, their office need not maintain any inventory or record, and the citizens as they will not be required to carry documents. This fast, transparent and accountable system also ensures real-time availability of offence status to the transport and traffic enforcement officers and the citizens.