DGP orders traffic cops to accept e-documents

With this, motorists need not carry the hard copy of these documents, which pose the risk of losing them. From now, traffic police personnel need not insist on original vehicle documents from motorists if they have these documents in digital formats that are recognised by the Central government, an advisory released by the DGP office on Thursday said.  

It said that the clarification came following several RTI applications sent to Union Road Transport Ministry and also the National Highways seeking explanation on the validity of digi-locker facility offered by the Electronics and Information Technology Ministry of the Centre, and m-Parivahan mobile application released by the Union Highways Ministry, as traffic police personnel refused to accept them as valid in many states. 

“The digital documents are equivalent to original documents as per Information Technology Act, 2000, though Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, insists that motorists should 

produce the valid documents of the vehicle when demanded by the authorities,” read the advisory. 

In case if the documents need to be impounded for crimes, the same could be done on electronic mode from Vahan or Sarathi database sites, the DGP office clarified. 

“The impounding can be done by providing e-Challan. There is no need to confiscate original documents,” the advisory added. 

Digilocker is a ‘digital locker’ service operated by the Centre to enable public to store official documents including certificates on cloud storage. Registered users are offered 1 GB storage space to save identification card issued by government agencies, education certificates, PAN cards, driving licence, vehicle ownership documents and other such important documents. M-Parivahan is a platform developed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to store vehicle-related documents.