Motorists carrying driving licence and registration certificate of vehicle in their wallets will be a thing of the past with the rollout of ‘DigiLockers’ to keep these documents safe and use them in digital format.
DigiLocker (digilocker.gov.in), a platform launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the Digital India drive, can be accessed any time anywhere, eliminating the use of physical documents. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has joined hands with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to make available driving licence and registration certificate (RC) in digital format.
The initiative, also aimed at paperless governance, comes at a time when the Transport Department has announced that driving licence and RC will go the “smart” way, which the Motor Vehicles Department had been unsuccessfully trying to implment for a decade. Of the 9.5 crore registered vehicles and 10 crore driving licences issued in the country, Kerala had around 99 lakh motor vehicles and 85 lakh driving licence holders in various classes. The department has to take a call whether to go for the smart card or to follow the Digital India drive for driving licence and RC.
Once the data from the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) and Sub-RTO are updated in the National Register Systems, digital copies of licences and RC documents will be available via DigiLocker.
The DigiLocker Android app can be downloaded from Google PlayStore to the cellphone and can be linked to the phone number. Those who sign up will get dedicated cloud storage space which can be used for storing key documents such as voter ID. Aadhaar number is mandatory for authentication.
As driving licence and RC will also be available on cellphones via the DigiLocker mobile app, this can be examined by law enforcement agencies. The documents can be used as ID proof as this will also ensure authenticity since they will be accessed directly from the source.
The DigiLocker accounts and digitally signed accounts will be on a par with the physical certificates as per the IT Act, 2000. The system was rolled out in Kerala last year under the e-district programme.
