26.3.17

Aadhaar - Driving Licence link planned

In a move to check multiple driving licences in one name, the Centre will ask states to make Aadhaar identification necessary for new licences as well as for those seeking renewal. The decision is expected to prevent the menace of multiple licences, means usually adopted to beat the suspension of licence for traffic/criminal offences or for fake identity . The Aadhaar number's biometric details will help prevent such malpractices and the new regime should kick off from October.The road transport ministry has started work to roll out the measure by incorporating the necessary changes on Aadhaar use. Since issuance of driving licence is a state subject, the ministry will urge states to adopt this “safe system“. The government's decision to make Aadhaar must to get a driving licence or renew it is expected to end the practice of people getting multiple permits from different 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.

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, Till recently, RTOs followed the 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. According to official estimates, about 18 crore driving licences have been issued across the country so far.

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