RTOs to accept licence applications from Thursday

RTOs to accept licence applications from Thursday

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:08.06.2021

Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) in Chennai are likely to accept applications for fresh driving licence (DL) and learner's licence from Thursday.

The state transport department has issued orders extending the validity of all motor vehicle documents till September 30. This order is based on Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MoRTH) guidelines.

There are 13 RTOs in the city and its suburbs. In order to avoid crowds, they were accepting a limited number of applications. Everyday, a few license applicants were allowed to visit these RTOs for tests or submitting photos/ biometric details. But their operations came to halt from May 24.

Now that the government has relaxed lockdown norms in Chennai, motorists have started applying for DLs, LLRs and RCs through the government's online portal (https://parivahan.gov.in/parivahan/).

“Despite so many attempts, I was not able to book a slot online as the portal said services were shut indefinitely,” said Vijayakannan, whose licence is due for expiry in two weeks. “I'm worried if traffic police might fine me for driving with an expired licence,” he said.

In response, a senior transport department official said that there was no need to panic as validity of all motor vehicle documents, which expired since February 1, has been extended till September end.

“We have opened up only today (Monday) with limited staff. So we have not enabled online booking of slots for fresh DL/LLR applications. But we are planning to accept applications for fresh DL and LLR in the next two days” he said, requesting anonymity.

The transport department is waiting for National Informatics Centre (NIC), an union government entity which manages parivahan portal, to depute adequate staff from their end to restart operations in Chennai RTOs.