New Delhi: Documents such as driving licence or registration certificate in electronic formats will be treated at par with original documents if stored on DigiLocker or mParivahan apps, the government said on Friday.
"If documents are not available on mParivahan or DigiLocker then they will not be treated as legally recognised at par with the original documents," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.
The ministry issued a detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) for the acceptance of transport-related documents presented in electronic form.
It said the ministry had amended the Central Motor Vehicles Rules in November 2018, enabling documents such as registration certificate (RC), insurance, fitness and permit, driving licence (DL), pollution-under-control certificate (PUC) and any other relevant documents to be accepted in electronic form.
"With this revision of rules, it is now not necessary for people to carry the relevant paper documents.
"However, for the electronic documents to be treated as legally recognised at a par with the original documents as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, it is necessary that they are available on DigiLocker or mParivahan app carried by the user," the statement said.
The mParivahan mobile app is being provided by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways through NIC.
The details of RC, DL, fitness validity, insurance validity and permit validity are available on a real-time basis on this mobile app by entering the DL or the vehicle's registration number pertaining to the vehicles, it said.
"The DigiLocker platform of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has the facility to pull a citizen's driving licence or the certificate of registration details from VAHAN and make it available in the DigiLocker App in an electronic form," it added.
Data related to vehicle insurance and its renewal is reflected on the eChallan app that is available only to enforcement officers, it said. According to the SOP issued by the ministry, people can download the DL or the RC through these apps and store on their mobile devices.
They can also show particulars related to the DL or the RC through the mParivahan app on the mobile through internet connectivity.
The enforcement agencies can simultaneously access these details from the eChallan app, which has data for online verification of vehicle and its licence status, it said.
"Offline verification of mParivahan QR Code is also available on this platform. Normal android mobile apps can be used for this purpose," the statement said.
This benefits both the enforcement agencies as they are not required to physically handle any document, their office need not maintain any inventory or record, and the citizens as they will not be required to carry documents, it said.
This fast, transparent and accountable system also ensures real-time availability of offence status to the transport and traffic enforcement officers and the citizens, it added.