“The idea is to automate all records at regional transport offices and then to enable networking of these. The ministry is providing the automating software to all RTOs free of cost. Under the project, all driving licences and vehicles registration certificates will be smart card based and information pertaining to them will be stored electronically at RTOs as is already being undertaken. We want to go a step further and create a national database of sorts with all this information,” said a senior official from the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways.

“We will create state level and national ‘registers’ in electronic form bringing in a database with details of all driving licence and vehicles registration data in the country. The move will help check vehicle theft and also fake driving licences in circulation,” added the official.

The national and state level database compilation will start in this financial year itself and is expected to be ready by 2012-13.

The move follows in the steps of several developed nations that have a ready database of vehicles. With the database in place, it will be far more easier for the police across the country to track and trace vehicle ownership. Also traffic violations and accident cases will be checked in a big way. As of now in case someone’s driving licence is cancelled after involvement in a series of traffic rule violations or after implication in a fatal accident, that person is still able to get another fresh licence. With the national level ‘register’ in place, this could be checked as a fresh licence will be refused to a person under penalty.

The smart card based driving licence and vehicle registration system is already on in Delhi, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura, Orissa, Assam and Maharashtra. Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have also started issuing smart card-based driving licences.

The ministry has already notified the rules for issuing smart card-based driving licences and registration certificates. Besides that, 30 states have already implemented pilot projects on automated registration certificates and driving licences.

There are 820 RTOs in India at present and 61 per cent of these haves started rolling out use of Information Technology in these forms.