BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to stop issuing physical smart card driving licence (DL) and paper-based vehicle registration certificate (RC) from January 1, 2022. Around 15 years ago, the smart card DL replaced the old pocket diary-shaped paper licence.
"The step has been taken under the 5T (transparency, technology, teamwork, timeframe and transformation) mandates of the state government. This will ensure better service delivery to the public and eliminate delays in getting DL and RC via post," state commerce and transport secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi said.
As per the government notification, a web portal is being developed to enable people to download the DL and RC documents. Currently, a person has to pay Rs 240 towards cost and postal despatch of the smart card DL and around Rs 200 for an RC book. A private agency, which was engaged by the government in July 2006 to supply the smart card DLs, was collecting the fee from applicants and facilitating the despatch of the cards to their houses.
"From January 1, people can keep the print-out of their DLs and RC details in their vehicles for any kind of official reference and show it to police during enforcement of traffic rules. The new process is aimed at reducing both time and cost for citizens," Padhi said.
Sources said the existing smart card DL, which has been embedded with a microprocessor chip, was designed to feed details of the traffic related violations of offenders. Necessity of the chip-based DL is no more felt as the enforcement wings of the police and regional transport offices have been using e-challan machines, which can store antecedents of the violators.
People, who do not have access to the internet, can approach their nearby Jana Seva Kendras to get copies of the DL and RC.
