TamilNadu Transport offices will give RCs & Licences as Smart cards soon

Issuing of driving licence and Registration Certificate (RC) in the smart card format will commence soon.

The exercise, which will start in Chennai, will be extended to all the 110 RTOs and unit offices in the State.

Once the system comes into place, procedures such as name transfer and re-registration will be just a database update. It will greatly reduce the amount of time one has to spend in an RTO to get things done, according to officials.


Tender specifications have been finalised, said a senior Transport Department official. A proposal has been forwarded to the government and once a formal approval is received, the project will go ahead. A pilot implementation, that has been active in three RTOs, namely Chennai South, Cuddalore and Sivagangai, for the past two years will now be extended across the State.

According to a senior Transport Department official, a Build Own Operate Transfer will be adopted. The tender document stipulates that the private operator will set up the system and maintain it for a period of five years. Once the cards are printed by the operator, they will be activated by the Transport Department.

While the licence application fee will be the same, Applicants will have to shell out an extra Rs.200 for the smart card RC.

The official said that all existing licences and RCs would have to be converted into the smart card format within the five-year period.

There are close to two crore licences and RCs in the State. The operator would have to come out with a plan of action for conversion into a smart card based regime.