In an effort to effectively regulate public transport, Delhi Government today issued new guidelines for streamlining registration of public service vehicles and verification of drivers.

Delhi Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami said to lessen burden on police, the government has identified certain conditions for purpose of registration of public service vehicle and issuance of public service badges to drivers.

The Government has initiated the process for thorough verification of the crew of all public transport vehicles as per directive of the Centre to improve safety of women in the city.

Goswami stated that henceforth any owner possessing a valid passport along and a clearance certificate from the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) will not require a police verification for registering his vehicles.

If the owner employ a driver having public service badge issued by the Transport Authority, then the driver would also not require any further police verification. All the drivers of the public transport vehicles are required to posses the public service badge issued by the Transport department.

Further, submission of a valid certificate not older than six months issued by police not below the rank of ACP certifying the residential address of the owner along with on-line SCRB report would also be treated as having verified by police.

For registration of additional public service vehicle in the same name and address the documents will not be required again for a period of one year from the date of issuance of such certificate but the applicant has to submit self-attested photocopies on each occasion.

The Transport Department has exempted from police verification in respect of the vehicles owned by certain categories which include vehicles of Central Government, State Government, PSUs, Autonomous Bodies of Centre and State Governments and local bodies.

Vehicles of recognised educational institutions, authorised motor driving training schools, cluster bus operators, hotels, tourists transporters approved by Ministry of Tourism and city government, registered hospitals and nursing homes and approved radio taxi operators are also exempted from the police verification.

Goswami said for issuance of public service badges certain conditions have been identified to enable the applicant as deemed to be police verified.

Any applicant, having a valid passport for residential address and SCRB report, would be treated as police verified.

Goswami expressed confidence that new guidelines would not only streamline the procedures but also go a long way in providing relief to the applicants facing hardship due to earlier cumbersome procedures.