Applicants can place mother’s name on driving licence in Delhi from April

Citizens applying for a permanent driving licence in Delhi will be able to include their mother’s name on the licence instead of their father’s name from next month, according to a report by The Times of India. The move, however, is not mandatory.

Currently, an applicant has to provide their father or husband’s name while initiating the process. Hence, the Delhi government’s transport department decided to include the mother's name as an option in what it called was a ‘progressive step’.

A senior transportation department told the newspaper, “This is a big step in bringing gender equality at the transport department and we plan to bring in this change by April.”

“This would be a big help specifically for those who for some reason do not want to provide their father’s name or have a single parent,” the official said.

“We are modifying our software to bring in these changes. We believe the software tweaks should be ready this week,” the official added.

The 13 Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) in Delhi, issue approximately 1,600 permanent driving licences on a daily basis. Around 4 lakh licences are issued in a year and around 1 lakh applications are rejected on various grounds.

Delhi would become the first state in the country to issue licences with mother’s name, the official claimed.