New guidelines on validity of driving license, vehicle documents- Check out!

The Ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has released circular on March 26 which states that validity of driving license and vehicle documents which had expired since February 1, 2021 has been extended till 30th June.

The official twitter account of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways tweeted,  “Taking into consideration the need to prevent the spread of COVID-19, MORTH has advised State and UT Govts that the Fitness, Permit (all types), License, Registration or any other concerned document(s) may be treated to be valid till 30 June 2021.”

The government has extended the validity of documents like driving license (DL), registration certificate (RC) and permits till June 30, 2021due to the coronavirus pandemic. The deadline for the validity of these documents were earlier March 31, 2021. The ministry of road, transport and highways (MoRTH) issued an advisory to the states about the extension. The documents whose validity could not be granted due to the lockdown or had expired since February 1, 2021, or would expire on March 31, 2021, will all be given an extension, as told to states by MoRTH.

Driving license can also be renewed anytime now between one year before its expiry till one year after its expiry, a step which was taken will be likely to benefit citizens living away from their hometowns or who is visiting abroad. MoRTH said in circular that the decision “will help out citizens in availing transport-related services”.

Earlier advisories were issued in 2020 in the month of March 30, June 9, August 24 and December 27. The documents that will be eligible for the relaxation fall under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.

It may be the last advisory in view of the extension of vehicle document validity. The government has also asked states to implement this advisory in letter and spirit, so that citizens do not face any issues and don’t get disturbed.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told in Lok Sabha in a written reply on last Thursday that the rules and the passing percentage for the driving license test will be reformed. “In the case of a vehicle having a reverse gear, driving the vehicle backwards, reverse it into a limited opening either to the right or left under control and with reasonable accuracy is one of the parameters of qualifying in the driving skill test,” as quoted by news agency PTI.