Railways to allow advocate ID in trains as valid proof issued by bar councils

Railways will now allow identity cards issued to advocates by the respective Bar councils as a valid identity proof to undertake train journey, an order issued by the Railway board has said.

As of now, there are 11 identity proofs that are accepted by railways which includes Aadhaar cards, identity cards issued to students by schools, photo identity cards issued by PSUs, state governments, central governments and other such documents.

An identity card is mandatory for passengers while travelling by train or booking online tickets.

The decision to allow the Bar council card as a proof was taken after the Kerala High Court recently allowed the document to be used as an identity proof.

"In pursuance of a judgement passed by the High Court of Kerala, the matter has been examined and it has been decided that photo identity cards with serial number issued to advocates by the Bar Councils of India may also be accepted as proof of identity of passengers for undertaking journey on train," the order issued earlier this month stated.

(With inputs from agencies.)