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Driving licenses, permits, and vehicle registrations which are soon to expire will be valid till the end of this year.

The Central government on Monday extended the validity of various motor vehicle documents like driving license, permits, and vehicle registration till December 31, 2020, in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

The ministry of road transport and highways said that it has decided to extend the validity of fitness, permits, licenses and registrations, and other documents related to vehicles under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle rules, 1989 till the end of this year.

The ministry had earlier issued two advisories on March 30 and the other one on June 9 regarding the extension of the validity of these documents till June 30 and September 30 respectively.

The first advisory was issued during the lockdown period in the country in March which extended the validity of those documents which had expired after February 1 and has been extended till June 30, 2020.

The extensions mean that all motor vehicle documents like licenses, permits, vehicle registrations and insurances that expired between February 1 and December 31 will be valid till December 31 this year.

The ministry said in a press release that due to the conditions prevailing in the country and in order to curb the spread of novel coronavirus across the country, it has further revised the validity of all the motor vehicle documents whose validity could not be extended due to the lockdown conditions in India.

Any of the vehicle documents that have been expired after February 1st this year will remain valid till the end of this year and it is not mandatory to get the documents renewed before December 31.

All the enforcement authorities across the country will treat all the vehicle documents as valid in every state in the country.

This step by the ministry of road transport and highways will help the commuters and citizens in availing all the transport related services across the country.

The ministry also urged all states and Union Territories to implement the letter in the spirit so that citizens, transporters and various other organizations which are operating in these difficult times may not face any difficulties while commuting.

The citizens of India are soon going to receive the guidelines of Unlock 4.0 by the end of this month from the central government and it is unclear if the metro services, schools, colleges and cinema theatres would be reopened or not.

By Gayatri Yellayi