Driving on Indian roads require you to follow traffic rules and regulations. If you don’t, you violate legal laws and land in trouble if traffic authorities catch you breaking the rules. Driving on the right side of the road, obeying traffic lights, maintaining the speed limit, having a valid driving license to drive, etc. are some of the traffic laws which you are required to follow. However, legal rules and laws are dynamic in nature. They change to adapt to the changing society. Take the instance of the latest change in traffic laws. While earlier, carrying a hard copy of your driving license and RC Book was mandatory, new laws have eliminated this mandate. Do you know what’s changed?
The new rule
According to the most recent amendments made in the IT Act 2000 and the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, digital soft copies of the driving license and RC book would be sufficient for vehicle owners to carry on the go. The Ministry of Road Transport has notified that drivers can carry soft copies of the driving license and RC Book and, when asked, they can produce these copies to the authorities. The digital copies would be considered to be equivalent to the physical license and RC book.
How the new rule would work
Vehicle owners can store the soft copy of the driving license and RC Book in their DigiLockers. Each DigiLocker has a unique user id and password through which the documents stored in the locker can be viewed. The DigiLocker can be accessed through Smartphones. If the license and the RC Book is required to be furnished to traffic authorities, the driver can open his/her DigiLocker account on his/her Smartphone and show the traffic authorities the soft copy of the driving license and the RC Book which would be acceptable. However, a scanned copy of the license and the RC Book would not be considered eligible. The DigiLocker should contain the original documents in soft copy.
What is DigiLocker?
DigiLocker is an application which is launched and controlled by the Central Government. It is a cloud-based online platform meant to store, share and verify important documents. The application can be installed on Smartphones easily. DigiLocker eliminates the need of carrying physical documents and has been developed as a part of the Digital India movement launched by the Indian Government. Every individual can create a personal account on the DigiLocker and then store his/her documents therein. The documents can then be accessed online as and when required. DigiLocker is, therefore, an online storage account for documents.
Benefits of the new rule
The new rule which has been passed by the Ministry of Road Transport would provide various benefits to vehicle owners as well as to drivers. Here are the benefits of the new rule –
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Ease of access
Accessing the license and the RC Book would become easy for the driver. As Smartphones are available with almost everyone, you can easily produce the license and RC Book as and when demanded. All you would have to do is log into your DigiLocker account and produce the documents. There would be no more chances of forgetting to carry the documents and facing penalties. The digital copy is easy to access and would remain on you at all times.
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Less chances of loss of documents
When your documents are stored online, there is no chance of losing the documents. The documents are safely stored on an online platform. You can access the documents online or through any Smartphone provided you have the user id and password. So, the documents are secured.
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Fewer chances of fraud
The possibility of forging the document or any other fraudulent activities is eliminated as the original document is stored on DigiLocker.
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Ensured the authenticity of documents
The documents stored on DigiLocker are authentic and original. This ensures the authenticity of the documents due to which such documents are accepted by authorities.
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Prevention of damage to documents
As the documents are stored online they are prevented from being damaged or soiled.
So, the new rules have eased up the mandate of having the driving license and RC Book on you when you drive. Enjoy the benefits of the new rule but make sure to open a DigiLocker account and store your original driving license and RC Book on your account.
