Mumbai: Driving licence no longer an address proof

Mid Day

Mumbai, 24 November 2011: The next time you think you can whip out your driving licence when asked for proof of residence, think again. According to a new circular issued yesterday by Chief Secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad, the driving licence should no longer be accepted as valid proof of residence. Gaikwad in the circular mentioned that the driving licence was increasingly being used as proof of residence to seek new telephone connections, mobile phone SIM cards and to claim a housing unit in MHADA or other SRA schemes.

 

However, in the circular he explained that while issuing a driving licence, the state transport department did not verify whether the applicant stayed in a legal or illegal accommodation, nor did it verify a change in address if ever done later and hence it should not be considered to be a proof of residence.

Gaikwad also pointed out that in the recent past a lot of licences had to be revoked as the proof of residence provided by many were incorrect or forged and owing to this reason, the driver’s licence could no longer act as a verified means of proof.

 

The move comes after the Congress-led government had announced that a ration card should no longer be considered as proof of residence. The move had been sanctioned by then Chief Secretary JP Dange in June last year.

 

Many officials claim that the circular might create some kind of confusion as to which documents can be accepted as proof of residence. They said that even though the previous circular had stated that the ration card should not be accepted, photocopies of the document were still being asked with various applications including several at government offices too.