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New draft rules: Unpaid traffic e-challans may freeze vehicle, licence services
The Centre’s draft Motor Vehicles Rules propose blocking vehicle registration and driving licence services until unpaid e-challans are cleared.
Motorists who fail to clear traffic challans may soon be unable to access several vehicle and licence-related services, according to draft amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, published by the road transport ministry on Monday. The draft rules propose that once a challan has attained finality—either because it was not contested within the prescribed period or after adjudication—and remains unpaid, licensing and registering authorities will not process applications relating to the offender’s driving licence or the vehicle’s registration until the challan is disposed of. The vehicle will also be flagged as “Not to be Transacted” on the portal, while the registered owner or licence holder will receive electronic alerts. The restriction, however, will not apply while a challan is pending before a court or adjudicating authority, and applications relating to vehicle tax will continue to be processed.
The proposed amendments are part of a wider overhaul of the digital traffic enforcement framework under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules. The Centre has invited objections and suggestions on the draft for 30 days before notifying the rules.
Akhilesh Srivastava, former NHAI official and president of ITS India Forum, welcomed the decision. “We digitised the challan; now we must digitise accountability for citizens and officials alike.” But he pointed to a possible problem. “Having built FASTag’s back-end at NHAI, I can say the hard part was never the citizen-facing rules. It’s the interoperability between challan portals, court records and vehicle databases. If that plumbing isn’t seamless, ‘Not to be Transacted’ will punish honest motorists caught in system lag, not offenders. Get the architecture right, and this is India’s template for outcome-based first real move toward accountable, real-time traffic enforcement,” he said.
Another significant proposal requires every state to establish a dedicated adjudication mechanism for traffic penalties within six months of the rules coming into force. The draft also proposes that if an adjudicating or appellate authority fails to pronounce an order or dispose of an appeal within the prescribed time, it may face a penalty ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000.
The ministry has also proposed giving legal recognition to electronic traffic warnings.
Separately, the draft introduces an electronic process for cancellation of vehicle registrations if a vehicle has been destroyed, scrapped or permanently removed from India.
Owners will have to intimate the registering authority electronically, generally within 30 days of the event, following which the authority will notify both the owner and the insurer if the registration is cancelled. New Forms 37A and 37B have been proposed for the process.
The draft also proposes several procedural amendments, including extending one compliance period under the rules from 14 days to 30 days, expanding references to penalties and fines in relevant provisions, and clarifying procedures for compoundable and non-compoundable offences.
