The COVID-19 pandemic has, quite literally, battered the entire world. India, which presently has the second-highest count of globally confirmed positive cases, has seen its economy nosedive. Although things are improving, there will always be uncertainty until the vaccine comes into play. And, because of that, the government is trying to make things more bearable for its citizens.

One such attempt is to offload the stress regarding expired or soon expiring vehicular documents. The last date for renewing documentation such as driving licence, registration certification, travel permits and fitness certificates, has now been extended to March 31, 2021. This isn’t the first time the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has bumped the deadline forward. Similar announcements were made earlier this year on March 30, June 9 and August 24. As per the previous release, the last date for renewal was December 31, 2020.

The latest advisory says:

Taking into consideration the need to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it is further advised that the validity of all of the above-referred documents may be treated to be valid till March 31, 2021. This covers all documents whose validity has expired since February 1, 2020, or would expire by March 31, 2021.

Enforcement authorities are advised to treat such documents valid till March 31, 2021. This will help out citizens in availing transport-related services while maintaining social distancing.

There’s no other way of saying it – the new deadline will provide much-needed relief to many. In addition to preventing the spread of the deadly virus, the extension will also give the people more time to plan their finances. That said, we would advise not to delay the renewal process for too long. Such tedious tasks are prone to suffer technical and administrative difficulties close to their end dates.