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Draft Central Motor Vehicles Rules amendment proposes new driving licence card

By CAShorts DeskPublished Sources: Gazette of India, G.S.R. 902(E) (MoRTH); Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (India Code); The Hindu; The Indian Express

Draft Central Motor Vehicles Rules amendment proposes new driving licence card
Illustration (AI-generated)

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued draft amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, dated 16 October 2026. Licences would be laminated or PVC cards in separate formats for Indian and foreign nationals. Forms would require a blood group, mobile number and emergency contact. The pass mark would rise from 60 to 75 per cent.

Syllabus: Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Government Policies; GS2 · Governance & e-Governance

Why this matters for UPSC

GS2 governance and delegated legislation. Prelims can ask about rule-making under sections 27 and 212 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Concurrent List; Mains, about road safety and time-bound citizen services.

Why it matters

A first-time driver would face a safe-driving tutorial of at least 30 minutes and would have to score higher to qualify, so passing becomes harder for anyone who has not studied the road rules. A person hurt in a crash could get a safe transfusion sooner, and relatives could be reached quickly, because a hospital could read vital details straight off the card. Someone who moves to a new city could update the address online without paying, and silence from the office for a month would count as approval. Foreign residents would carry a card that looks different at a glance. The larger questions are road safety, faceless public services and how much personal health data a state document should hold.

Prelims pointers

  • Seventh Schedule: 'mechanically propelled vehicles' is Entry 35 of List III (Concurrent List), while taxes on vehicles suitable for road use are Entry 57 of List II.
  • Article 254: a Parliament law on a Concurrent List matter prevails over a repugnant State law, unless the State law was reserved for and received the President's assent.
  • Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, section 4: minimum age 18 to drive in a public place, 16 for a motorcycle up to 50cc, and 20 for a transport vehicle.
  • Section 25A, inserted in 2019: no driving licence issued or renewed is valid unless it has a unique number under the National Register of Driving Licences.
  • Section 211A: filing a form, issuing a licence or paying a fee by a prescribed electronic form satisfies any requirement of the Act or its rules.
  • Section 9: an applicant who fails the driving test may reappear after seven days; a transport-vehicle licence needs a driving school's certificate.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to rule-making under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, consider the following statements:

1. Rules made by a State Government under the Act must be laid before the State Legislature.

2. Rules made by the Central Government under the Act are laid before each House of Parliament for a total of thirty days.

3. The power to make rules under the Act is subject to the rules being made after previous publication.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 and 2 only
  2. (b) 2 and 3 only
  3. (c) 1 and 3 only
  4. (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3. Section 212 of the Act sets all three conditions.

Statement 1: correct. Section 212(3) requires every rule made by a State Government to be laid before the State Legislature as soon as may be.

Statement 2: correct. Section 212(4) lays every Central rule before each House of Parliament for a total of thirty days, in one or more sessions.

Statement 3: correct. Section 212(1) makes the rule-making power subject to previous publication, which is why the 2026 changes first appear as a draft.

Eliminate: statement 3 is the surest, since the draft itself cites section 212; it removes option (a). Out: (a).

Eliminate: statement 1 is also correct, as State rules go to the State Legislature; it removes option (b). Out: (b).

Eliminate: statement 2 is correct too; it removes option (c). Out: (c).

Trap: Swapped attribution. A student may think State rules must also go before Parliament, or that Central rules escape any legislative scrutiny.

Remember: MV Act section 212: draft first, Gazette, then laid before the legislature of the government that made the rule.

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