Gurugram: Bike seized over pending fines of ₹11.8L, 19 times vehicle’s value

Officials found 88 unpaid traffic fines against the 2010 Bajaj Discover during a routine check near Agrasen Chowk.

A motorcycle worth roughly ₹55,000 to ₹64,000 at the time of purchase in 2010 was impounded by Gurugram traffic police on Wednesday after officials found pending traffic challans worth ₹11.89 lakh, nearly 19 times its original value, during a routine check near Agrasen Chowk, officials said.

Police said the vehicle lacked valid insurance, registration and pollution certificates during the roadside inspection. (HT)

Traffic officials said 88 challans were found unpaid against the Bajaj Discover, a Bharat Stage-II vehicle registered in 2010 in Narwana. Officials said the motorcycle had violated multiple provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, with offences recorded manually and through CCTV surveillance cameras. Most challans were issued after 2021, when the vehicle was brought to Gurugram.

The violations included driving without insurance, pollution under control (PUC) and registration certificates; riding without helmets; wrong-side driving; and carrying a pillion rider without a helmet.

Officials said the vehicle’s fitness certificate expired in May 2025, insurance lapsed in September 2023 and the PUC certificate expired in March 2024.

“The motorcycle appeared in a very bad condition when it was stopped by our team. It was being driven by the owner’s brother, both residents of Gurugram,” said traffic zonal officer Sudesh Bhatotia.

Bhatotia said the driver failed to produce valid registration and insurance documents during inspection.

“Of the 88 challans, only two were postal/manual in nature, and the remaining were issued through the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and CCTV cameras,” he said.

Officials said the motorcycle was impounded under Section 167(8) of the Motor Vehicles Act after the challans remained unpaid for over 90 days. The driver was briefly detained, and the vehicle was shifted to a designated parking lot near Rajiv Chowk.

Police said nine vehicles, including a minivan with 42 pending challans worth ₹5.48 lakh, were seized between March and May. A motorcycle with 111 pending traffic fines amounting to ₹2.2 lakh was also impounded at Agrasen Chowk near the city bus stand in April.

HT had earlier reported that despite a 1.5-fold rise in traffic fines since 2023, the recovery-to-penalty ratio remained between 12:100 and 23:100 across 10 categories of violations, including wrong-side driving, speeding, abrupt lane changes, driving without seatbelts or helmets, signal jumping and wrong-side parking. Drink-and-drive cases were excluded, as fines and recoveries in such cases are decided by courts.