Driving licence draft rules: free address change, deemed approval after 30 days and a 75% tutorial pass mark

Money and time

The fee waiver is the headline. Fees would be dropped for changing the address, mobile number and email, and for services completed online with Aadhaar authentication. Reports differ on the exact list, and on whether name changes are free too, so the gazette text will settle it.

On time limits, licensing authorities would have to approve or reject an application to change the name or other particulars within 15 days and give reasons for any rejection. For an address change, one set of reports puts the deadline at 30 days, after which the request is treated as approved. That deemed approval would apply only to address changes and not to every licence application. A request to remove a vehicle category would be processed in seven days, and anyone who permanently gives up a category could not apply for a learner's or driving licence in it for a year.

Forms and documents. The Sarathi portal would do more of the typing. Information already on file would be filled in automatically, and a new Form 2A would cover amendments, renewal, a duplicate licence and adding a category. Learner's licence applications would carry new fields for Aadhaar and for a parent or guardian.

Applicants would pick their proof of identity, age and address from a drop-down list and enter the issuing authority, date and document number. Accepted documents include Aadhaar, a passport, a voter ID, an electronic ration card, PAN and a birth certificate. Electricity bills and domestic cooking gas bills are accepted as address proof if they are no more than three months old. LIC policy documents would no longer be accepted.

There are rules on photographs too: the applicant's face should fill at least 70 per cent of the frame against a white background, the file should be 1 MB, and the resolution between 900 by 1200 and 2250 by 3000 pixels. The form would require a mobile number and an emergency contact, and it would include an option to register as an organ donor. Every licence issued or renewed would be a laminated or PVC card in Form 7, and Indian and foreign citizens would get different card formats.

The tutorial and the pass mark

The change to the test is the one that would affect most new drivers. The safe-driving tutorial should run for at least 30 minutes, and the assessment pass mark would go up from 60 to 75 per cent. A senior official described the changes as aimed at "tightening assessment requirements", while the ministry's stated goal for the rest of the package is to make services more accessible, transparent and efficient.

What should drivers do now? Nothing changes yet, and applicants should follow the current rules. Anyone with a view on the draft, whether a driving school, a citizen who has struggled to update an address or someone who does not like the new pass mark, can send comments to the ministry within the 30-day window. The final version may differ, and some of the time limits are described as tentative.