Driving licence to be linked with Aadhaar
Now, Centre to link driving licence with
Aadhaar to weed out fake ones
The
Centre is in the process of linking driving licences with Aadhaar
Number to weed out fake licences and a software for this covering
all states on a real-time basis is under preparation, the Supreme Court was
told on Wednesday.
A
bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta was informed about it
by a court-appointed committee on road safety headed by former Supreme Court Judge
Justice K S Radhakrishnan. This assumes significance as a five-judge
Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra is currently hearing a
clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar
scheme and the enabling 2016 law.
The
committee, in its report filed in the top court, said it had held a meeting on
November 28 last year with the joint secretary of Ministry of Road Transport
and Highways (MoRTH) to discuss several issues, including procurement of fake
licences and how to eliminate it.
"On
the issue of fake licences, joint secretary, MoRTH informed that NIC (national
informatics centre) is now preparing 'Sarthi-4' under which all the licences
would be linked to Aadhaar," the report said. "This software will
cover all the states on real-time basis and it will not be possible for anyone
to get a duplicate or fake licence anywhere in the country," it said.
The
advocate representing the committee told the bench that the panel was scheduled
to have a meeting with the MoRTH and other authorities concerned on February
22-23 to discuss compliance of directions given by the apex court earlier.
Additional
Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for the ministry, told the bench that
fatalities in road accidents in India have gone down by around three percent in
2017 as compared to 2016. The bench said it was "heartening to know"
that number of fatalities and injuries in road accidents have come down.
In
its report, the committee said it had asked states and union territories (UTs)
to forward road accident data for entire 2017. "The committee has since
received data from all the states/UTs, except Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,
Mizoram and Daman and Diu which indicates that in the states/UTs which have
submitted data, there has been a reduction of 4,558 fatalities (i.e. 3.0 per
cent) and 24,023 injuries (i.e. 5.0 per cent) in 2017 as compared to
2016," the report said.
The
committee told the court that through its November 24 last year letter, it had
asked all the states to set up a road safety fund which would be non-lapsable
and to have a steady flow of funds by the diversion of "significant"
portion of fines collected from traffic violations.
It
said some states have already set up road safety fund and the committee was
pursuing the issue with remaining states in order to ensure full compliance of
the apex court's order which had said that the fund should be established by
March 31, 2018.
The
report said at the November 28 last year meeting, it was discussed that since
driving licences were now in the form of a smart card, its punching in cases of
default was likely to damage the data stored in it. "Joint Secretary MoRTH
pointed out that presently NIC is in the process of developing central
computerised data base and all the states would be covered under the same.
"This
data base is likely to be effective from October 1, 2018," it said,
adding, that all the offences committed by the driver would be recorded in this
data base and there would be no necessity for punching of driving licences.
The committee further said that 20-25 per
cent fatalities on roads occur due to non-existence of pedestrian facilities,
like footpaths, over-head passes, and under-passes and so it has asked the
states to provide pedestrian facilities in accordance with the Indian Road
Congress (IRC) guidelines. The court, while posting the matter for hearing on
April 23, said that the committee should ensure compliance of its directions
given earlier.
The apex
court had in November last year issued a slew of directions on road safety and
asked all states and UTs to set up a trauma centre in each district of the
country and make safety norms part of school curriculum. It had also directed
that road safety education and counselling be made a part of school curriculum
by the state boards by April 1, 2018, and at least one trauma care centre be
set up in every district with an ambulance. The court had issued its directions
on a PIL raising the issue of road safety in the country.