KARACHI, Nov 30: A new driving licence will soon replace the existing one, according to a senior police official.
The need for replacing the present computerized driving licence with the new one had been felt after complaints about counterfeit licences, the official said and added that the new licence with unique features would be too difficult to counterfeit.
DIG Traffic Yameen Khan said that tender had been floated and bids were received in that respect and the process was now in final phases and soon new licences would be issued to applicants.
Explaining the features of the new driving licence, he said the licence would be similar to credit cards, embossed with the licence number, name and nature of the licence, blood group and validity, and also with the picture of the applicant on it.
The sources said the matter of award of tender was yet to be finalized as it was pending for final decision with the capital city police chief. The city police chief could not be reached despite several attempts.
The existing licence has a column for blood group but usually it is not filled.
An official in the driving licence branch said they did not usually ask the applicants for blood group. If they provided them with information of their blood group they put it in the relevant column. He said the medical test of an applicant was also not necessary unless he/she was over 50 years of age.
“We only check him/her to see if they are physically fit for driving. If a medical certificate is required we accept it from any practitioner working for a private or government hospital,” he said.
A senior official said the licence should have blood group as it could help a lot in case of accidents. He stressed the need for amendments in the rules and regulations as the law is silent in that respect.
“The blood group column was included in the driving licence when the licence was redesigned to elevate it up to international standard, but we cannot force an applicant to produce his/her blood group as the law is silent about it,” he said and added that the condonation process should also be discouraged and the discretionary powers of the licence-issuing authority should be curtailed.
He said the authority could condone the essential period of 45 days for a learning driving licence.
“This can open doors of corruption as the authority could misjudge an applicant and condone the essential period. The condonation process should require the opinion of at least two officers,” he said.
It may be recalled that recently an 18-year-old boy was issued the learner’s driving licence, and on the same day the licence was regularized by the licence-issuing authority.
