KATHMANDU: The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) has decided not to print driving licenses that have only one year of validity remaining.
According to the department, more than 2.5 million licenses are still pending for printing. Among them, licenses that are set to expire within a year will not be printed. Most pending licenses originally had a five-year validity.
Many applicants paid revenue four years ago, but their licenses were never printed, and nearly four years of validity have already passed. Printing and distributing these licenses now would require renewal again after one year, including reprinting, so the department has reached a decision not to print them.
However, the department has not made a formal decision yet.
Director Keshav Khatri said licenses applied for earlier but now left with only around one year of validity will not be printed. Since these licenses will expire within a year and need to be printed again after renewal, the department has decided it is not practical to print them at this stage.
“We still have over 2.5 million licenses pending. Printing of 1.2 million licenses through the Security Printing Center has already begun,” he told MeroAuto. “Some of the pending licenses have barely a year of validity left. Even if we print them now, they will require renewal within a year. So printing them at this point is not suitable.”
Licenses with more than one year of validity remaining will be printed and distributed. Khatri claims that 1.2 million applicants will receive their licenses within the next five months.
The department has not yet released the exact number of licenses with only one year of validity left, but the estimate is around 50,000. Since printing for the remaining 1.3 million licenses has not been finalized, this number is expected to rise.
The longer the printing delay, the shorter the remaining validity becomes. Some applicants who paid the revenue earlier may end up needing to pay again without ever receiving their license.
Provinces to be asked for renewal relief
Khatri said the department will request provincial governments to consider offering relief to those whose licenses now fall under the “less than one year validity” category. Vehicle taxation and licensing fees fall under provincial authority, so the DoTM cannot decide on fee concessions.
“Many applicants paid fees three to four years ago but still haven’t received their licenses. Some have only a year or even less of validity left,” he said. “They paid the fee but never got the license. Now they will need to renew it again soon. So we will request provinces to consider some relief, possibly a waiver on renewal fees. But if the provinces disagree, the DoTM cannot offer concessions on its own.”
No clarity yet on printing of 1.3 million pending licenses
Out of the 2.5 million pending licenses, the department has moved ahead with printing 1.2 million. But there is still no clarity on when the remaining 1.3 million will be printed. Due to budget shortages, the department has not been able to finalize printing for the remaining batch.
Director Khatri said this year’s allocated budget of Rs 270 million is only enough to print 1.2 million licenses. He added that the department will request additional funds and aim to print and distribute the remaining licenses within the current fiscal year.
“Printing for the first 1.2 million licenses has started. But we lack a budget for the remaining 1.3 million. We will request funds from the ministry and aim to complete all pending printing within this fiscal year,” he said.
The printing cost per license at the Secure Printing Center is Rs 195.17 (excluding tax). Based on this rate, printing the remaining 1.3 million licenses will require around Rs 300 million.
