New Delhi, December 4: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Wednesday issued a draft notification on the linking of mobile numbers with vehicles. The government, as per the notification, is in favour of "mandatory linkage" of one's mobile number with the vehicle - four-wheeler, three-wheeler or two-wheeler - owned by the person by April 1, 2020. Mumbai Sees 50% Dip in Vehicle Registration on Dussehra Vis-a-Vis Last Year.

The Centre has invited public comments over the draft notification for the next 30 days. Subsequently, an order is expected to be issued based on the feedback received by the Road Transport Ministry. The notification also comes on a day when the Cabinet cleared the Personal Data Protection 2019 which will regulate the use of personal data by public and private entities.

The mobile numbers and other personal data of users are collected primarily during the issuance of vehicle registration certificates (RC) and driver licences (DL). The data is to be maintained at two platforms - Sarathi and Vahan.

The two digital platforms were aimed to be used as a national repository for vehicles and their owners. A Transport Ministry official, while speaking to HT, said the phone numbers collected for driving licence issuance are normally used for OTP generation and not for storage in the database.

A Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official, while speaking to the daily, said a large number of registrations on the VAHAN database carry details only related to the vehicle. Information on mobile phone number of the vehicle owner in missing in several entries.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 05, 2019 12:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).