The State Government has made carrying of original licence mandatory for driving vehicles from tomorrow. The licence was also compulsory for registering vehicles.

An instruction on this has already been sent to all regional transport offices. Coimbatore Central Regional Transport Officer S Udhaya Kumar, said, “According to the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, a person cannot drive vehicle without the original driving licence and may face punishment of either Rs 500 fine or a three-month jail term if he or she fails to do so. Original driving licence was also mandatory hereafter for registration of vehicles.

Asked what people should do in case they had lost their licence, he said a complaint had to be filed with the police station where the card was lost. Based on this, the petitioner would be given a non-traceable certificate by the police in case it was not found. On the basis of this, he or she can apply for a duplicate driving licence. This would be on the basis of checking with other RTOs in the country whether there was any case charged for traffic offences against the petitioner.

Alongside, the Tamil Nadu police launched a new online service to register complaints regarding lost documents.