Soon, traffic police to accept digital version of all vehicle documents

The move comes after reports of some of the state transport authorities and traffic police officers not accepting the digital versions of vehicle documents

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2 min read Last Updated : Aug 01 2019 | 2:18 PM IST

In a bid to make it compulsory for the state transport authorities and traffic police officers to accept the digital version of all vehicle documents including driving licence, Registration Certificates and pollution certificates, the central government is set to amend the Motor Vehicles Rules, reports The Times of India.

The move comes after reports of some of the state transport authorities and traffic police officers not accepting the digital versions of vehicle documents.

The official FAQs of DigiLocker, which is the central government's cloud-based system for digital documents, says that being a partner of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways DigiLocker is integrated with the National Register (national database of driving license and vehicle registration data across the country) and thus digital documents are authentic documents which can be used as an alternative to the physical documents. However, in some states, traffic officials reportedly were not accepting digital vehicle documents.

The draft rule proposes to add in rule 139 of the Motor Vehicles Rules after the words "driving licence and," the words "certificate for Pollution Under Check in physical or electronic form."

According to the ToI report, The ministry is likely to issue an advisory on the matter in the next two days.

In addition to this, the draft rule notified by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways suggests that 'all goods carriage vehicles shall carry goods in a closed body of vehicle or container'. It further says that if it were to be necessary to carry goods in open bodies, good need to be covered with appropriate covers like tarpaulin or any other suitable material.

The draft further adds that national permit vehicles will be required to have 'National Permit or N/P' inscribed in front as well as the rear of the vehicles in bold letters. Also, the draft says that these vehicles would be fitted with FASTags, reflective tapes and Vehicle Tracking system device.