Aadhaar to be mandatory for even driving licence now
This is expected to prevent the issuance of multiple
licences, means adopted to beat the suspension of licence for traffic, criminal
offences or for fake identity.
In a move to check
multiple driving licenses under one name, the Centre will ask states to make
Aadhaar identification necessary for a new licence as well as for those seeking
renewal.
This
is expected to prevent the issuance of multiple licences, means adopted to beat
the suspension of licence for traffic, criminal offences or for fake identity.
The
Aadhaar number's biometrics details will help prevent such practices. The new
regime is expected to kick off from October this year, official sources said.
The
Union road transport ministry has already started work to roll out the measure
by incorporating the necessary changes. Since issuance of a driving licence is
a state subject, the ministry will urge states to adopt this "safe
system", which will almost end the practice of people getting multiple
licences from different regional transport offices (RTOs) in different states.
Since
it is not too difficult to get such multiple licences at present, even the
confiscation of a driving licence by police doesn't work as a deterrent.
"Aadhaar
will be a single document which will be enough to establish the identity of the
applicant. If anyone does not have it, then he/she has to submit several other
documents. We are making the necessary changes and incorporating provisions to
enable RTOs to record these details. All RTOs will have access to the central
database of driving licences (known as Sarathi) to check whether the applicant
has got any other driving licence issued anywhere in the country," a
source said.
Till
recently, RTOs followed a manual system and in the absence of access to
real-time data of all RTOs, they couldn't check if an applicant already had
another driving licence. The National Informatics Centre, which is responsible
for managing the database of vehicles and licensed drivers, has uploaded most
of the data available in RTO records.
"We
are expediting the process to convert all data from hard copy registers to the
digital format. Uninterrupted access to updated details will bring a huge
transformation. It will be nearly impossible to get a fake or duplicate
licence," the source said.
According
to official estimates, about 18 crore driving licences have been issued across
the country so far.
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