The validity of motor vehicle registration, documents like driving license (DL), registration certificate (RC), and permits has been extended by the Union Transport Ministry till March 31, 2021, in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had earlier issued advisories dated March 30, 2020, June 9, 2020, and August 24, 2020, in connection with the extension of validity of documents related to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989.
“The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has extended the validity of vehicular documents like DLs, RCs, permits, etc till March 31, 2021, in the light of the need to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Ministry has today issued a directory to the states and Union Territory administrations in the regard,” a MoRTH statement said.
Earlier through various notifications, it was advised that the validity of fitness, permit (all types), license, registration or any other concerned document(s) may be treated to be valid till December 31, 2020.
“Taking into consideration the need to prevent the spread of Covid-19, it is further advised that the validity of all of the above-referred documents may be treated to be valid till March 31, 2021. This covers all documents whose validity has expired since February 1, 2020, or would expire by March 31, 2021,” the latest MoRTH advisory said.
“Enforcement authorities are advised to treat such documents valid till March 31, 2021. This will help out citizens in availing transport-related services while maintaining social distancing,” it added.
Keeping in mind the long queues for license renewal that would violate social distancing norms, and the lockdowns and curfews that are still in force in different parts of the country, the decision of extending the deadline was taken by the Union ministry.
“The government has provided for the availability of the essential goods and production thereof and has allowed the vehicles for the transport of such goods/cargo and further opening up the operation of passenger transport in view of the fact that citizens were finding it difficult to get renewed the validity of various documents due to lock-down in operation at various stages in different parts of the country and other countries world over. Renewal of such documents is still leading to the assembly of people and long queues in front of the transport offices across the country,” the Union government said in an advisory to all states and union territories (UTs).
The Union ministry has asked all states and UTs to implement the recent advisory in letter and spirit so that citizens do not face additional challenges during an ongoing pandemic.
Mean-while, The Covid-19 dummy vaccination drive, aimed at testing India’s vaccine delivery system and other logistics is set to commence today. The dry run, the largest mass immunization program in the country’s history will be carried out in four states- Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, and Assam.
India reported 20,021 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 Monday, taking the country’s total tally past 1.02 cr. Of the total cases, 2.77 lakh cases are currently active while over 97.82 lakh people have recovered. With 279 deaths reported on Sunday, the death toll now stands at over 1.47 lakh. At 7.15 lakh samples, the country tested one of the lowest samples on Sunday since August. As a result, new infections are likely to be low on Monday as well. Delhi is now consistently reporting below 1,000 cases, a level that was last seen in August.
