One can buy a two-wheeler without a driving licence but has to apply for a learner’s licence from the store and give an undertaking that no one without a licence will ride the vehicle, the government has decided.

The new order — coming in the wake of a sharp decline in bike sales following a government bar on the sale of two-wheelers to anyone without a licence — came into effect on Friday and will remain in force till November 15, when it will come up for review.

Industry watchers hope the relaxation would boost two-wheeler sales ahead of Diwali.

“The Durga Puja season was bad in terms of sales of two-wheelers. A few units were sold only to those who wanted to upgrade their models. The figures will hopefully go up during Diwali,” a two-wheeler dealer in Kamarhati on BT Road said.

The new order asks two-wheeler dealers to sell bikes after verifying the “profile” of a buyer “regarding age and address with original documents.”

The dealer will have to upload self-attested copies of these documents, along with online application for registration, on the government database. Earlier, an RTO would “profile” a buyer after inspecting his or her PAN, Aadhaar or voter-identity card.

“If the purchaser has no valid driving licence but intends to drive the two-wheeler himself, he shall apply online for learner’s licence forthwith at the time of purchase. The concerned dealer will facilitate submission of application by the purchaser,” the revised order states.

The dealers have undertaken to cooperate with the government in implementing the order, a transport department official said.

“We will monitor the collective sales of two-wheelers within this period (till November 15) and check with the number of applications that have been uploaded,” the official said.

On June 28, the transport department had issued a notification that made it mandatory for a two-wheeler buyer to possess a driving licence and get his or her identity proof verified at the offices of the regional transport authorities (RTAs).

Two-wheeler dealers were also directed to keep a record of the driving licence number of every buyer and show the documents to transport department officials on demand.

The government argued that the move was aimed at bringing down fatalities involving two-wheelers but it had raised questions about how a person was to obtain a licence if he or she did not have his or her own bike. Bengal does not have driving schools for two-wheelers.

Captains of the auto industry pointed out that across India any adult could buy an automobile and get it registered in his or her name irrespective of whether or not he or she held a licence.

Soon after the bar came into effect, the sales of two-wheelers plummeted. Around 100,000 two-wheelers used to be sold across Bengal every month on an average. “Sales have been hit by almost 70 per cent,” Ashok Manektala, of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, had said in August.

In September, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers had moved a petition in the high court challenging the legality of the order. Justice Harish Tandon stayed the part of the order that prohibited the sale of two-wheelers without a driving licence. The government was preparing to challenge the order.