Duplicate driving licence in Kerala: fee, Form LLD and how to get one

Last updated: October 2026

Lost your driving licence in Kerala? The quickest route is the Sarathi portal: open Driving Licence Related Services, select Kerala, choose Issue of Duplicate DL, enter your DL number and date of birth, complete the form and pay the fee online. Current Sarathi fee guides list Rs.250 for a duplicate driving licence, but I could not open the live Parivahan fee page directly while researching, so treat the figure the portal shows at checkout as final. Processing is mostly online, and the new card is posted to the address on record.

When you can apply for a duplicate driving licence

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways allows a duplicate licence in three situations:

• the licence is lost or destroyed
• the licence is defaced, torn or illegible
• the photograph affixed to the licence needs to be replaced

If the licence is simply expired or your address has changed, that is a different service: renewal or change of address, not a duplicate. Our guide to Kerala driving licence renewal fees covers the renewal path.

The official fee

Older pages and exam-prep sites quote Rs.30, which comes from an old fee notification and is outdated; ignore it. Any quote above the table from a driving school or an agent is a service charge, not the official fee; ask for an itemised quote.

Form 2 or Form LLD: which form is it?

Online, the Sarathi portal generates the application for you, and the underlying form is Form 2. You never download Form 2 separately; it is the form you fill on screen.

Offline, at a Kerala RTO counter, the form is the Kerala-specific Form LLD (the Kerala MVD version is titled Form DLLD): Intimation of Loss or Destruction of Driving Licence and Application for Duplicate, filed under Rule 29 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules. In it you declare the circumstances of the loss, give the licence details you remember, and attach the fee receipt plus photos and specimen signatures. If you are comfortable with the portal, the online route avoids this paperwork entirely.

Documents checklist

• Your driving licence number. If the card is gone, check the Sarathi portal's print or download DL option, or DigiLocker or the mParivahan app if you linked the licence earlier.
• Form 2, completed on the portal (or Form LLD if you are filing offline at the RTO).
• ID and address proof: Aadhaar, passport, voter ID, or a utility bill in your name.
• Copy of the police complaint, where the licence was lost or stolen. Form 2's document annexure lists the police complaint copy for loss, mutilation, defacement or damage cases; in Kerala the Thuna portal of Kerala Police is the online route for lost-document reports.
• Attested photocopy of the old licence, if you have one.
• The damaged or defaced original, if that is your reason for applying; the form asks you to enclose it.
• A recent passport-size photograph and a scanned signature, in the sizes the portal specifies.
• A mobile number linked to your Aadhaar, active for OTPs.

Steps: apply for a duplicate DL online in Kerala

1. Go to sarathi.parivahan.gov.in (or open parivahan.gov.in, then Online Services, then Driving Licence Related Services).
2. Select Kerala as the state.
3. Click Apply for Duplicate DL, read the instructions and continue.
4. Enter your driving licence number, date of birth and the captcha, then click Get DL Details. The portal pulls up your licence record.
5. Select the RTO that issued your licence (find it in our KL RTO code list with addresses) and proceed.
6. Verify the licence details shown, enter your mobile number and Aadhaar number, and continue.
7. From the services list, select Issue of Duplicate DL (the portal may also list it as Replacement of DL for damaged cards) and proceed.
8. Complete the self-declaration of physical fitness.
9. Upload your documents and submit. The portal generates an acknowledgement slip with an application number: download and print it.
10. Pay the official fee online by UPI, debit or credit card, or net banking. Save the receipt with the application number.

Online or RTO visit? The flow above is fully online. You visit the RTO in person only if the portal asks for biometric or photo verification, or if your licence record is not on Sarathi at all (very old book-format licences sometimes need the record migrated at the RTO first).

Offline at the RTO: the Form LLD route

1. Visit the RTO that issued your licence.
2. Fill Form LLD with the licence number, the circumstances of the loss, and the vehicle classes on the licence.
3. Attach the documents from the checklist, two or three recent photographs and your specimen signatures.
4. Pay the fee at the counter and collect the receipt.
5. The RTO verifies the application and issues the duplicate after approval.

What happens after you submit

The application goes to your RTO for verification. Once approved, the duplicate licence is printed and dispatched by post to the address on record. I could not find an official published processing time, so treat timelines cautiously: applicants report roughly 3 to 4 days for approval, with card delivery taking longer, and some guides describe a one-to-ten-day range. Track your case under Application Status on Sarathi using the application number and your date of birth.

If you have moved since the licence was issued, fix the address first: the duplicate card is posted to the address the RTO has on file. See the address change process for that fee and those steps. Our duplicate driving licence service page also summarises the steps and fee table in brief.

Can you drive while waiting for the duplicate?

A digitally signed driving licence in DigiLocker or the mParivahan app is accepted as a valid document during traffic checks, so link and download it while the duplicate is processed. The acknowledgement slip from your application is proof you applied, not a licence, so the digital DL is the document that actually covers you on the road.

Mistakes that slow applications down

• Name or date of birth spelled differently across your documents and the portal record.
• Blurred or expired uploads, especially the photograph and signature.
• Paying before reading the fee breakup on the checkout screen.
• Selecting the wrong RTO: the duplicate is processed by the authority that issued the original.
• Filing before the lost-document police report is in hand, where your RTO asks for it.

What I could not verify

Three things, stated plainly. I could not open the live Parivahan fee page directly, so the Rs.250 figure above is from current Sarathi fee guides and needs a check at checkout. I could not find an official processing-time commitment for duplicate DLs in Kerala, so the days given above are applicant-reported ranges. And I could not confirm whether every Kerala RTO insists on a police complaint copy in every loss case; Form 2's annexure lists it for loss and mutilation cases, but the portal or your RTO may or may not ask for it in yours.

FAQ

Is a police complaint mandatory when my licence is lost in Kerala?

Form 2's document list includes a copy of the police complaint for licences that are lost, mutilated, defaced or damaged, so prepare one. In Kerala the Thuna portal of Kerala Police handles lost-document reports online. If the portal does not ask for it in your specific application, you lose nothing by having it ready.

Can I combine a duplicate application with a renewal or an address change?

The Sarathi portal lets you select multiple DL services in one application flow, so you can add a renewal or a change of address alongside the duplicate, with each service's fee item shown separately at checkout. Do the combination only if you actually need the other service; each adds its own verification step.

I found my old licence after the duplicate was issued. Which one do I use?

The newest one. Once the duplicate is issued, it supersedes the old licence. Keep the duplicate and destroy the recovered old card so the two cannot be mixed up.

My old licence is the paper book format and Sarathi shows no record. What now?

Old records sometimes never migrated to Sarathi. In that case the online flow cannot find your details, and you need to visit your RTO with the book licence (or a copy of it) so the record is brought onto the portal first, then file the duplicate.

Does the duplicate carry the same number, classes and validity?

Yes. A duplicate reissues the same licence details, the same vehicle classes and the same expiry date as the original. It is a replacement copy, not a new licence.

Fees and rules change without notice. Verify all fees and rules on parivahan.gov.in before applying.