Acceptance of Transport Documents through DigiLocker / mParivahan

Government of West Bengal
Transport Department
Paribahan Bhawan,
12, R. N. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata – 700001

No. 3618-WT/3M-20/2013(Pt.I) Kolkata, the 23rd December, 2021

NOTIFICATION

Whereas, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India has issued advisory to all the States and UTs of the country to accept the documents as presented by the citizens through Digilocker or mParibahan app vide their No. RT-11036/64/2017-MVL dated 08.08.2018; and

Whereas, the DigiLocker platform of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India and the mParivahan mobile app of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India has the facility to pull a citizen’s Driving Licence or the Registration Certificate or any other certificate in an electronic form; and

Whereas, these electronic records available on DigiLocker or mParivahan are deemed to be legally recognized at par with the original documents as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000; and

Whereas, as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, the owner/ driver has to produce the documents viz. licence or certificate of registration etc. to the enforcing authority on demand; and

Whereas, the data related to the insurance of new vehicles and renewal of insurance of vehicles is also being uploaded now by the Insurance Information Board (IIB) on the VAHAN database on a daily basis and the same is reflected on the mParivahan/ eChallan app of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India; and

Whereas, if the vehicle registration details on the mParivahan/ eChallan app contain the validity details of the policy which is in force, then the requirement of a physical copy of the insurance certificate is not to be enforced; and

Whereas, in light of the provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000, it may be considered that the documents available in the “electronic form” in the DigiLocker platform or the mParivahan mobile app as valid under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and be treated at par with the certificates issued by the transport authorities; and

Whereas, in cases where there is an offence made out and that there is a requirement of the documents to be impounded, the enforcement agencies can have such impounding reflected in the VAHAN/ SARATHI database electronically through the ‘eChallan’ system, there would be no requirement of physical seizure of the such documents; and

Whereas, this IT based online verification of certificates would also help the enforcement authority in ensuring the genuineness of the details which further would result in better compliance and effective monitoring and will be a step with a vision to excel in the field of ease of doing business and also transform the state of West Bengal into a digitally empowered state tending towards a paperless and smarter environment; and

WHEREAS, this step would also satisfy the demand of the citizens who have been requesting that the documents available in DigiLocker platform or mParivahan app to be considered valid by the traffic police or the Motor Vehicles Department, when asked to be produced;

Now, therefore, after careful consideration of all aspects, the Governor has felt it necessary to notify that the documents produced before the law enforcing authorities via DigiLocker platform or mParivahan App shall be deemed to be legally recognized at par with the original/ physical documents.

This will come into effect immediately.

By order of the Governor,

Sd/- Rajesh Kumar Sinha
Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal

No. 3618-WT dated 23.12.2021, Source