The State Transport Minister in Maharashtra, Avinash Dhakne has issued a circular to the 50 regional transport offices of the state on Jan 28, effectively allowing private car owners to operate a goods transport vehicle with their standard driving license. This changes the previous norm which categorized licenses under transport and non-transport categories.
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However, it will now be seen as licenses for a ‘class of vehicles’ bridging the gap between light motor vehicles (LMV) and private cars. Speaking on the rule change, Dhakne said that it was “long overdue”.
“In fact, a 2017 Supreme Court order allows use of the same licence for transport and non-transport vehicles. But citizens complained of harassment by enforcement agencies when they were caught driving transport vehicles using a regular licence. Now, they can safely use the same licence to drive two different categories of vehicles, but both LMVs,” he said.
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These don’t apply to taxis, AC cabs or kaali-peelis, autorickshaws, or minibuses, which will require a separate public service vehicle authorisation badge from the transport department. This will be in addition to the necessary permissions required to operate such vehicles.
As per Mumbai Mirror’s sources, future bike taxi services and their riders in the city will not require separate licenses and will only need a standard permission/badge to operate passenger transport vehicles.
“The new rule will put an end to driving schools enrolling citizens for commercial driving licences for tempos and school buses. This will, in a way, affect their business as there are many applicants for such licences every month,” a senior official from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) said.
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