Supreme Court says seize vehicle, stop RC, PUC renewal if e-challans not paid
Pulls up officials as over 23K cr remains unrecovered across India
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court has directed states and union territories to impound vehicles and take strict measures against owners who fail to pay traffic fines. Around 47% of e-challans issued across the country remain unpaid, according to the bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan. The court emphasized that simply issuing e-challans is not enough and stressed the need for stringent action to recover fines.
Authorities should conduct random vehicle checks and if unpaid e-challans are found, they should impound the vehicle, freeze online services, deny renewal of registration certificates, and bar updates to the owner's address. Additionally, the court ordered the denial of fitness certificates, blacklisting of the vehicle on the Parivahan portal, and blocking of ownership transfer.
The court expressed frustration with authorities for not taking action and highlighted the significant amount of outstanding fines, with approximately Rs 49,194 crore owed. The court also emphasized the need for ground-level enforcement and warned of stern action if measures are not implemented.
Written by urgent.news from Times of India's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
