Are digital documents enough as proof to drive a vehicle?

With time, a lot of things have changed for good. Technology is evolving and becoming better with every passing day. Technology has invented new digital mediums that have constantly provided radical changes in the way humans drive their vehicles.

Apart from how a vehicle functions, technology has also been integrated into peripheral fields to make it easy to own a vehicle. One of the most radical steps in the right direction in this regard is the announcement of the validity of digital documents for verification of vehicle owners. Till date, it was a punishable offence to be travelling without physical documentation that proved the validity and roadworthiness of your vehicle and your ownership.

For basic information, a vehicle owner is required to keep all the vehicle-related documents with them, including ownership documents as well as the motor insurance and pollution certificate. While many do comply with this requirement, there are many who don’t. From damaged physical copies and lost documents to a simple fear of the documents being stolen, a lot of issues keep surfacing when it comes to carrying documentation every time a vehicle is driven. The need for a more convenient method of carrying these documents has been felt all over.

The change that has been brought about

But now, the court has made a provision where a vehicle owner can keep digital documents instead of physical copies. Whenever asked for the documents, a person can show digital copies to the traffic officials. There are stipulations to this announcement, of course, including the introduction of a couple of official apps that can be used for carrying the digital form of your vehicle documents, but even more importantly, this step is slated to reduce the number of instances where people, due to one reason or another, find themselves being fined for the lack of documentation.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has recently issued a notice wherein they have approved that a certified and valid digital document for a vehicle will be enough to show to officials. These documents include the vehicle registration, insurance, driving license, and Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate of the vehicle. All these documents can be stored in either the mParivahan mobile app or Digilocker.

Understanding these digital apps

Now, you must be wondering, “What is Digilocker?”

Digilocker is a platform that offers verification and issuance of documents and certificates in a better, digital way. This can save the hassle of people having to keep their documents in their vehicles all the time as it eliminates the use of physical documents. This application can be downloaded from the Play Store in Android phones and from the App Store in iPhones. Digilocker issues an e-document to all registered individuals in a standard format and keeps it safe. You don’t have to worry about the app getting hacked or your data being compromised either.

This application also makes it easier for traffic officials to validate the authenticity of the documents. This is possible as they are directly issued by the registered issuers onto the app. The app also allows people to self-attest the documents using the app’s eSign feature.

Read more about the importance of motor insurance