Your driving license(DL) certifies you to drive a vehicle on the Indian roads. It is also an important document that you need to keep along with RTO vehicle information. But like all good things, your DL also comes with an expiry date.
Look at the information given in your DL. It has an issuing date as well as an expiry date. For non-transport vehicle, a DL is valid for 20 years after the date of issue.
Once your license expires, you are not allowed to drive a vehicle any longer. An expired license is valid only till 30 days after the expiry date. You are supposed to get it renewed by the RTO within that period.
Do not make a mistake of ignoring the renewal of your driving permit. It is a punishable offence under the law and can attract a fine and/or imprisonment up to 3 months.
A renewed non-transport driving license has a validity of 5 years, while a renewed transport DL has a validity of 3 years.
If you do not get your DL renewed within 5 years after the expiration date, you will have to go through the procedure of getting a fresh DL issued from the RTO.
Documents Required to get a Renewed DL
- Duly-filled driving license renewal application form
- Duly-filled medical fitness form
- Expired driving license
- Identity and address proofs
- 5 Passport sized photographs
Whether you apply through the online or the offline modes, the above documents are mandatory. You can either go to the online RTO portal of your state and follow the steps for renewal of DL, or you can directly go to the nearest RTO centre of your home.
When all is said and done, you will receive your new DL within two to three weeks at your registered address.
