- Transport Commissioner writes to IG for intervention
- Directives of two Union Ministries being flouted
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 14: In blatant violation of the directives of two Union Ministries, the Traffic Police personnel in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are not accepting Virtual Driving License and Registration Certificates on DigiLocker and mParivahan mobile apps and taking serious note of public complaints in this regard the Transport Commissioner has sought the intervention of Inspector General of Police Traffic.
The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology vide Letter No.3(14)2015-EG II dated July 18, 2018 addressed to all Principal Secretaries Transport, requested all the States and Union Territories to issue appropriate orders to all enforcement officers to accept the DigiLocker Driving License and Vehicle Registration Certificates.
Even Ministry of Road Transport and Highways vide letter dated August 8, 2018 asked all the States and Union Territories and respective heads of the Traffic Police to accept Driving License, Registration Certificate or other documents presented through DigiLocker or mParivahan platform.
“The DigiLocker platform of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India and the mParivahan mobile app has the facility to pull a citizen’s Driving License or the Registration Certificate or any other certificate in an electronic form. These electronic records available on DigiLocker or mParivahan are deemed to be legally recognized at par with the original documents as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000”, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had mentioned in the letter.
It was also mentioned that data related to the insurance of new vehicles and renewal of insurance of vehicles is also being uploaded by the Insurance Information Board on the VAHAN database on daily basis and the same is reflected on the mParivahan/eChallan app of the Ministry and if the vehicle registration details on the mParivahan/eChallan app contains the details of the policy which is in force then the requirement of a physical copy of the insurance certificate is also not to be enforced.
As per the directive of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in cases where there is an offence made out and there is a requirement of the documents to be impounded, the enforcement agencies can have such impounding reflected in the VAHAN/SARATHI database electronically through the eChallan system and there is no requirement of physical seizure of such documents.
Accordingly, the Ministry had directed for considering documents available in the electronic form in the DigiLocker platform or the mParivahan mobile app as valid under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 and be treated at par with the certificates issued by the transport authorities.
However, directives of two Union Ministry are not being taken seriously by the Traffic Police personnel in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir thereby putting public to undue harassment and inconvenience. During the past quite long time, the office of the Transport Commissioner J&K was receiving complaints in this regard from the public.
Taking serious note of the same, the Transport Commissioner has written a letter to the Inspector General of Police Traffic J&K seeking his intervention in the implementation of directives of two Union Ministries.
Pointing towards the communication of Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology, the Transport Commissioner Rahul Sharma said, “in pursuance to the letter of the Union Ministry, this office vide Letter No.TC/JK/MV/3074-76 dated October 21, 2021 has issued circular that the documents on DigiLocker and mParivahan mobile apps of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India are legally recognized documents at par with the original documents as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000”.
“However, still complaints are pouring that enforcement agencies are not considering these documents and still insisting on hard copies of the documents. In this context, it is requested to issue order/instructions to down below in your organization directing all the concerned to honour Virtual Driving License and Registration Certificate etc on the DigiLocker and mParivahan mobile apps”, read the letter of the Transport Commissioner to Inspector General of Police Traffic J&K.
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