Individuals who have recently applied for a driving license will no longer have to furnish their Aadhaar card for verification.
The Government of India has put an end to the process of verification using Aadhaar card for obtaining a driving license. This was announced in the parliament on July 15th, 2019.
Nitin Gadkari, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, wrote a written response in the Rajya Sabha that the central and state government has completely stopped the process of Aadhaar card verification for issuing a driving license. Reportedly, Nitin Gadkari stated that, ‘The Ministry in compliance to the order of the Supreme Court dated September 26, 2018… stopped the process of verification using Aadhaar for the Driving Licenses. The process of collection of biometric data at RTOs has been discontinued”. In addition to this, Mr. Gadkari also stated that Aadhaar card numbers obtained for vehicle registrations are 1.65 crore (as per the data provided by the National Informatics Centre).
This decision was made in order to prevent people from using fake identities for obtaining a driving license. Around 30% of driving licenses in the country are bogus and about 1.5 lakh people die and 5 lakh get injured in road accidents every year. The Government of India has also proposed a new legislation seeking higher penalties for traffic rule violations.
The current documents required for a driving license are:
- Address Proof (Passport, ration card, Voter ID, or utility bills in the applicant's name).
- Identity Proof (Passport, PAN card, voter ID, birth certificate or 10th grade mark sheet).
