Driving licences across India will soon have similar look, colour and design, irrespective of the state of issuance. New driving licences (DLs) and vehicle registration certificates (RCs) issued after July 1, 2019 will be uniform in look, colour and design, and will have the same security features, a media report said on Sunday.
The Times of India reported that the new ‘smart’ DLs and RCs embedded with microchips will have QR codes. These cards will be enabled with the nearfield communication (NFC) feature which would be readable by hand-held devices. Besides the details of holders, which the traffic enforcers would be able to quickly access, the driving licence will also mention the driver’s pledge of organ donation.
The DL will also mention if the driver is driving specially designed vehicle meant for the physically challenged.
The RC will have emission details of the vehicle to help officials carry out the pollution under control (PUC) test.
The Union Road Transport Ministry has already started the process of switching to the new system. Those who have old driving licence will be issued the new 'smart' ones when they go to get it renewed. Similarly, old RCs will be replaced with the new ones when the vehicles are re-registered.
Enforcement personnel - RTO officials and traffic cops - will have multiple options to get access to all details of a driver. They can manually key in the DL or RC numbers in their hand-held device or inserting the smart card in the device or read the QR code to get access to the details.
“It will directly give access to the URL having details of the particular vehicle or driver including past records as stored in the central database of Vahan (for vehicles) and Sarthi (drivers),” a transport ministry official said.
He added that the extra features will cost Rs 15-20 per smart card.
