Supreme Court orders impounding of vehicles with unpaid e-challans and freezing of their online services
28 September 2026
A Supreme Court bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan passed a set of directions to recover unpaid traffic fines in the road-safety case S. Rajaseekaran v. Union of India.
The Court recorded total recoverable e-challan dues of Rs 49,194.05 crore, of which Rs 26,175.05 crore had been recovered, leaving about Rs 23,000 crore outstanding.
Where an e-challan is found unpaid during a random inspection, authorities are to take steps to impound the vehicle itself.
States are to freeze online services for such vehicles, including fitness and pollution-under-control certificates, registration renewals and transfers of ownership, until the fines are paid.
Driving licence renewal is to be suspended for repeat violators and defaulting vehicles are to be blacklisted on the Parivahan portal.
The directions rest on Section 136A of the Motor Vehicles Act and Rule 167A of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, read with the Standard Operating Procedure of 28 October 2025.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is to run a public online dashboard, updated monthly, showing state-wise and corridor-wise progress on electronic enforcement.
In plain words
E-challan Electronic challan — A traffic penalty notice generated electronically, usually from camera evidence, and served digitally.
PUC Pollution Under Control certificate — A certificate confirming that a vehicle's emissions are within the permitted limits.
Parivahan Parivahan portal — The Union transport ministry's national portal for vehicle registration and driving-licence services.
Section 136A Section 136A, Motor Vehicles Act — The provision allowing electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety rules.