Maharashtra govt writes to NIC for temporary suspension of faceless learner's licence service

Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) The Maharashtra government has written to National Informatics Centre (NIC) seeking the temporary suspension of the faceless learner's licence service after detecting rampant misuse and serious technical loopholes, state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik said on Friday.

In June 2021, the Maharashtra government launched the faceless facility, which allows applicants to visit Sarathi 4.0 webpage of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and take an online test to obtain a learner's licence using Aadhaar-based authentication.

Earlier in the day, Sarnaik chaired a high-level review meeting at Mantralaya, during which the misuse and technical loopholes of the faceless learner's licence system were discussed, a release from the minister's office said.

Field officials pointed out that the current faceless system was vulnerable to Aadhaar data manipulation, alteration of name, address, and date of birth in licence records, and even the bypassing of NIC's security software to clear the learner's test without the candidate's presence, the release said.

Sarnaik said several persons had obtained learner's licences online after turning 18 but were flouting rules that mandate driving only under the supervision of a permanent licence holder.

"There have been instances where such licence holders recklessly drove vehicles and caused accidents. In many drunk driving cases, the drivers were found to possess only learner's licences. The faceless learner's licence system needs thorough changes to curb these issues," he said.

According to the release, field officials have also warned that the loopholes in the faceless learner's licence issuing system could lead to the" large-scale issuance of fake licences, posing risks to both road safety and national security.

"The minister directed the transport commissioner to instruct the NIC to immediately strengthen safeguards. He directed that until corrective measures are in place, all learner's licence tests must be conducted under direct supervision of department officers with strict verification," the release said.

"In the meeting, officials informed that some states have outsourced the faceless learner's licence tests to third parties, while several others, including Kerala, Telangana, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Ladakh, and Lakshadweep, do not have any faceless system and continue to conduct tests only through RTO offices," it added.

The state government has set up an expert committee under Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar and has sought a detailed report on the issue, an official present at the meeting said.

The reforms based on the committee's recommendations will be implemented at the earliest, the minister directed.

Annually, over 15 lakh learner's licences are issued by RTO offices.

Previously, applicants had to visit RTO offices to appear for a computerized learning licence test. Since the launch of the faceless service, many applicants have been applying for it from anywhere in the world. PTI KK BNM