In a recent amendment to the application procedure of permanent driving license, the Uttar Pradesh RTO has announced a mandatory Aadhaar address authentication.
With this additional norm in place, motorists are permitted to only apply for a permanent DL from the same district as their Aadhar Card. Notably, the new rule does not govern the application of a Learner’s DL and it can still be applied from any region, irrespective domicile status.
The tedious new procedure:
All motorists, except for those who got their Learner’s license made before June 1, fall under the purview of the amended procedure. That is, if a person who was issued a Learning license after the said date cannot have it upgraded to a permanent license if they are not in the same district as mentioned in the permanent address section of their Aadhar card.
To put it simply, a Kanpur local resident who has moved to Lucknow cannot apply for their permanent DL in Lucknow. They have to go back to Kanpur to start the procedure at an RTO there. Those who have received their learner’s licence before June 1 can get their permanent licence from any district in UP.
The new procedure is tedious and has raised several concerns among people who have moved away from their permanent homes because of work, education or other familial reasons. While it is not impossible to move to a district to get the document made, it increases hassles for a motorist.
Aadhar, the only address proof
It may be noted that now the RTO will only consider only Aadhar Card as an authentic address proof, unlike the previous system which accepted insurance receipts or PAN cards for verification, a license officer at Transport Nagar RTO office said.
The move has come in accordance to the mandatory Aadhar Card verification in the Learner’s License application system. In all, it has led to a lot of confusion among people, with an average 50 general enquiries coming in every day to seek information regarding alternative address proofs.
