(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) –As a result of the COVID 19 epidemic in the country, the expiration date of driving licenses had to be extended several times due to the closure of the Department of Motor Traffic.
Accordingly, a large number of driving licenses need to be renewed at once. Therefore, the department has to issue a large number of driving licenses at present, which is unaffordable, the Department of Motor Traffic said in a statement.
In this situation, it has been decided to extend the period of the driving license in accordance with the expiry date as follows and the gazette notification for the same will be issued in due course.
• Driving licenses expiring from 1st of April, 2022 to 30th of June, 2022 to be extended by 06 months from the expiration date,
• Driving licenses expiring from 1st of July, 2022 to 30th of September, 2022 to be extended by 03 months from the expiration date,
(This also includes the Driving Licenses that expire on the above dates as per the grace period granted by the previous day extensions)
As this is the last extension of the date, it is stressed to renew the driving license during the grace period.
In addition, the Department of Motor Traffic is currently facing a shortage of cards used for printing driving licenses due to the prevailing foreign exchange shortage in the country.
As a temporary solution, it has been decided to issue a one-year temporary driving license instead of a driving license card. It is being planned to introduce a computer application with security measures for the temporary driving license to the Department of Police.
Also, a new temporary driving license with a validity period of one year will be issued to the holder of the license by post for the existing temporary driving license.
It is kindly informed that after the recovery of the situation, the relevant cards will be printed and a method will be arranged to deliver the driving license to the applicant’s home.
