The service has already been started in Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Satara, Kolhapur and Aurangabad, and work for the same is underway at three centres in Mumbai.

The state transport commissioner, Deepak Kapoor, said that the basic exam taken by the RTO would be computerized, wherein many candidates can appear for it in less than half an hour. “The state government, in 2005, had issued a Government Resolution (GR) stating the examination procedure which the RTOs take should be computerised rather than handwritten which is the case now. The exercise is the result of the same GR,” Kapoor said.

The funding for the same has to be done by using the local MLA funds. The new method was ordered by the government after allegations of malpractices during the issuance of learning driving licence were raised.

Currently, the exam for getting a learning driving license is manual and it takes around two days to get the licence. “But after the machines are installed, the candidates have to take the exams on the computers. For getting a licence, they would have to correctly answer 60 per cent of the questions shown on the computer screens. The process would take around 30 minutes,” Kapoor said. “The candidates will also know the mistakes they committed and, hence, the process would become more transparent,” he added. The entire procedure would take around two hours.