It was not the best of the days, not the worst of the days. It was as usual. I travelled to my office, had another non-descript day, and boarded a train to return home. Quite naturally, I encountered the same barrage of regular, not so regular and irregular commuters and I had nothing to do but to float in the human river pouring out of the station. There were a few little nudges that my "daily passenger brain" flagged, but I did not pay heed. Oh! What a fool I was. By the time I reached another place to run another non-regular errand, I discovered that someone decided that my wallet must have been one of the most valuables of all, and kept it for himself (or herself?)! No, there were not much of money in it, so apparently, the loss was not that much. So I thought without knowing what is in store for us in the near future. The wallet contained one thing which was not easily replaceable, that is my driving licence. And to procure a duplicate DL started a journey for me which is not amusing but intriguing indeed. So here is the account. In case anyone tries to follow this, please do so on your own risk, if you come to any real, notional or whatsoever harm, tucked inside the pages of dusty law books, I am not responsible for that, even an iota.
I started following the standard procedure and visited the police station under which the place of my startling discovery falls. I received my first jolt. The duty officer quite politely and patiently told me that I must obtain a NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the licence issuing RTO, certifying that there are no pending cases against my licence and the law has not confiscated the same. It was like a bolt out of the blue. RTO is one of those government offices where the hands prefer to work beneath the tables more than the above. So, I took the social route and posted on FB self-drive groups and called some of my friends for a solution. I had a steely resolve, that I am not going to grease the hands under the tables. Hence I promptly discarded the option of going through the "driving schools" who were shamelessly asking anything from 2500/- to 4200/-. Later, I found that the least quote is actually more than double the amount required to be spent. After gracious help from a few of my offline and online friends, I navigated the treacherous water to reach my goal. The following is the account of that journey which started about 2 months back.
PHASE 01
1. The NOC:
As I generally drive within Kolkata Police jurisdiction, and under their jurisdiction, I lost my DL, one of my friends advised me to go to Lalbazar Traffic Department to apply for the NOC. It was surprisingly smooth. There is a dedicated counter where I went, submitted the application with a photocopy of my lost DL, and within minutes, received a duly signed, computer-generated NOC, and without paying any charge. The first thing I did was making few photocopies of the same, and later I also scanned it to digitize the same. Let me tell you, my dear readers, that it is a great habit to digitize all the papers at every step, which can easily be done using your smartphones and free applications like Google Photo Scan and Adobe Scan.
Here is the photo of the application for NOC and the NOC itself.
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| NOC Application |
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| NOC |
Please understand, in all cases, the Lalbazar may not issue NOC, unfortunately, I have no idea which cases are those.
2. The Police Diary:
Even though the duplicate DL application process mentions "FIR", please note that registering an FIR is a very cumbersome process, and police do not prefer to register one in cases like these. In the case of "loss", it is always GD (General Diary) and the RTO happily and readily accepts a GD. So there was no point for me to pursue an FIR, and I also happily settled for a GD.
Please remember to have two copies of your GD application detailing the incident, the article/s lost and the date, time and place of the mishap. The respective PS will accept one copy and put a stamp on another giving the GD number.
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| The GD |
3. The RTO:
It was time to deal with the RTO. It is mandatory now that the application process is initiated online. I was rather happy thinking that I would not be required to deal with all those employees, who erase the moral troubling words like 'Help', 'Professionalism' etc from their dictionary and inculcate a steely resolve not to be swayed by petty humane sentiments. Though this is not a generalisation, there are many who are working in RTOs and other government offices and have a very humane attitude.
The first surprise was the "May I help You" counter. I was rudely told that I must present myself before the His Highness manning the counter before 3:30 PM because after that the counter becomes "I May Not Help You". Thankfully, another visitor told me what I must do to initiate the application process.
My online journey started at Parivahan Sewa Website
Please note that this website is not available in any other languages other than English and Hindi. Even though it feels like being a second class citizen of this country, I was helpless. I sorely missed my beloved mother tongue.
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| The Starting Point |
I first went to "Online Services" and then "Driving Licence Related Services". It is the second option from the top, in the drop-down menu. This directed me to the Sarathi Webpage for selection of State
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| Select the State |
The next page has all the Driving Licence related services listed at the left-hand part of the page. I chose the first option in the menu- "Apply Online". Under it, I chose the 5th option from the top "Services on Driving Licence".
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| Choose Services 01 |
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| Choose services 02 |
Now, it was all about following the directions given on the respective webpages.
On this page, I entered my DL number, my DOB and the category of DL that I have and then clicked the "Get DL Details" button.
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| Input the DL number and DOB |
The next page listed all my DL related details. I chose the options according to the next screenshot and proceeded with my journey.
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| DL details 01 |
The next page again detailed all the DL related data with an option to include my mobile number. So I did. This was to make sure that I receive confirmation SMS from Parivahan service regarding my application.
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| DL details 02 |
Confirming all the details brought me to the next page, where I had to choose the specific DL related service/s I required. I simply put a checkmark in the boxes beside each service/s I was opting for and hit the "Proceed" button.
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| Choosing specifics |
The next page was all about why I needed the service and other relevant details.
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| Filling the reason |
Hitting the "Confirm" button brought to the next. I would implore my readers to put a checkmark against the "02" option highlighted on the next page. There is nothing more civilized than trying to save another life.
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| The final details |
I am unable to share the screenshot of next pages as I have very little faith in the designs of Government websites. Most of those, I am sure, are perfect candidates to receive the "Least Intuitive Website" award. Let me try to tell you what would happen next in black and white.
In the next step, you would be able to download two things-
- The Form- this includes the Medical Certificate to be signed by a registered medical Practitioner (at least MBBS). The details come pre-filled by the system, including the photograph. I made a copy of this form after getting it signed by my family physician (a very nice gentleman).
- The Acknowledgment- This bears all the details related to the application and a print out had to be taken to be stamped by RTO.
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| Form page 01 |
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| Form page 02 |
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| Medical Fitness Form page 01 |
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| Medical Fitness Form page 02 |
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| Acknowledgement page 01 |
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| Acknowledgement page 02 |
Well, after this, I felt more confident and was assured to win the battle. Read on my dear readers, if you still have time to waste.
Before proceeding further, I had to arrange for all the following four documents in both hard as well as soft format.
- The Form- It was filled, photocopied and scanned.
- Address Proof- This is like an appendage for every Indian citizen now, and I am no exception.
- Medical Fitness Form- Filled up, duly signed by my dear doctor, photocopied and scanned.
- Affidavit- Received this after paying a charge of Rs 400/- to the lawyer notarized at the court. Please note, this court must have your present address under its jurisdiction. I made sure to have it in soft format too as it would be required to be uploaded. Here is a format that I used for the affidavit and as I have received my duplicate DL, I am sure that it is good enough. Though I would suggest checking with the local RTO whether they have any prescribed format to avoid harassment while submitting the papers in person.
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| Affidavit page 01 |
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| Affidavit page 02 |
PHASE 02
Once I was armed with all the papers, both in hard and soft format, the second phase of my journey (or should I say battle) began!
Again I navigated to the "Sarathi" part of "Parivahan" website. This time, I chose the second option from the top, "Upload Documents", under "Driving Licence". Under "Upload Documents", the first option is "Upload Documents/Scanned Images".
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| To upload documents |
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| Fill up the details |
Once the uploads were done, I was directed to the "Payments" page and I had to shell out an extra Rs 20/- for availing online payment service! The generated receipt was duly downloaded and printed and I was ready for the third phase.
PHASE 03
Here came the offline part. I made two sets of the following papers and carried the supporting originals with me to the respective RTO. All the papers were arranged according to the order mentioned in the acknowledgement form (it's necessary if you do not want to grease palms of the touts and do not want to be harassed).
- The Acknowledgement Form.
- The Form with personal details.
- The Medical Fitness Form.
- Address proof (original must be carried with)
- Affidavit in the original.
- Money receipt of online payment. (One may pay at the RTO too, but that would be an added hassle).
- Photocopy of the old driving licence.
After seven days of waiting, I requested one of my colleagues to visit the RTO, which falls on his way of commute and inquire about the fate of my DL. After visiting, he informed me that they refused to share any details with him, as it is not his licence. So, it was my turn to visit again. I went there, met the same clerk, and he told me, he did not know anything as it was not his duty. I was instructed to wait till 3PM to meet with another clerk who could tell me the fate of my application. Again, a visitor had pity on me and took me to another room where DLs were being printed. An unsmiling clerk exchanged minimal words with him only, and he told me that my application was not approved yet. So, I went back to that famous table again and this time demanded why my application was not approved. The clerk buckled a bit, pressed a few keys and asked me to show the money receipt. Then came the second shock of my journey. After rummaging through the pile of forms, he pulled out mine and told me that it was not submitted to the RTO officer. I was too perplexed to ask anything when he told me that my wife should have come to him and ask him to proceed with the application file after depositing the stipulated 140/-. After regaining my wits, I inquired why it was not conveyed to my wife, and came the reply "It is the norm here, nobody informs anything to anybody about this"! My gaping mouth was enough to swallow an Rs10/- Rosogolla in one gulp. He assured me that the process will resume and I am going to get my licence in next 10-15 working days. I am supposed to receive an SMS informing me the same.
The journey to this point not only enriched me but also made me smarter. I knew the SMS would never come (and it never did). I kept on checking the mParivahan app for any update in my data. After I found the update online, I waited for 2 more days and visited the RTO. The distribution clerk was not really happy when he handed me over the duplicate DL with a shining new chip. I came out of the RTO with a smile of a winner on my face, wining a battle without taking any shady route.
To all my readers, who had so much time to waste to read up to this point, please note, you must have a number of photocopies of your existing DL along with scanned copies. In case you do not remember your DL number, you are in for a very nasty surprise. In case someone is looking to replace his/her mutilated DL, the process is more or less same, only the mutilated one must be submitted in original with the application.
Thank you all for your patience.
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