Chandigarh, May 7 -- Come July, vehicle buyers in Punjab will drive out with smart registration certificate (RCs) in hand the very day they buy their vehicle. Aiming to streamline the registration process and eliminate long waits, the Punjab government has approved a new system allowing automobile dealers to issue the RC right after the vehicle sale is completed. The new process, part of a broader push toward digitisation and citizen-centric services in the transport department, is expected to kick in within two months. At present, nearly 2,000 automobile dealers across Punjab issue only provisional RCs at the time of sale. The smart RC - considered the official proof of vehicle registration - typically reaches owners within two to three weeks. With around 64,000 vehicles, both transport and non-transport, being registered every month in the state, delays in issuing RCs have been a persistent concern. Explaining the transition, Punjab transport secretary Varun Roojam said, "Dealers will be granted access to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) system, which is used to generate RCs. They will install designated printers to produce the smart cards on the spot. The process will begin in two months." The initiative builds on earlier reforms introduced in July 2022, when the Bhagwant Mann-led government rolled out the e-registration certificate (e-RC) system through dealers. While that system enabled online payment of fees and taxes and instant allotment of registration numbers, dealers were limited to issuing provisional certificates. The registration process-including tax payment, number allocation and high-security registration plate (HSRP) installation-is already digitised, making same-day issuance of smart RCs a logical next step. In a parallel reform, the Punjab State Transport Society is upgrading its Automated Driving Test Tracks at 32 centres across the state, also expected to be rolled out in the next two months. Once implemented, applicants who pass their driving tests will receive their driving licences on the same day, further reducing bureaucratic delays. The overhaul features an automated, AI-based evaluation process that removes human intervention, ensuring that only genuinely skilled drivers are granted licences while also cutting down waiting time A smartphone equipped with the AI-powered Harnessing Automobile for Safety (HAMS) system will be mounted inside the vehicle to evaluate driving performance and adherence to traffic rules in real time. At the end of the test, the app will automatically generate a pass or fail result without any manual intervention, leaving little scope for bias or manipulation. Applicants who clear the test will receive their driving licences the same day, eliminating long waiting periods. The system has already been successfully implemented in Mohali, bringing down pass rates from over 90% to 42% in a year, and will now be launched at the other 32 Automated Driving Test Tracks across Punjab. Using iris scanning and facial recognition, the technology also ensures that no proxy candidates can appear for the test....