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| Supreme Court of India, where the issue of recovery of unpaid traffic e-challans was discussed. Photo credit: Subhashish Panigrahi/Wikimedia commons. |
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has suggested that states and Union Territories consider linking unpaid traffic e-challan dues to electricity bills as a possible way to improve recovery of outstanding traffic fines.
A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan made the suggestion on Monday while hearing a matter concerning the electronic enforcement of traffic violations and recovery of unpaid e-challans. The proceedings are part of a long-running road-safety public interest litigation filed in 2012.
During the hearing, the court was informed that around ₹45,000 crore in e-challan dues were pending for recovery across states and Union Territories, while approximately ₹25,000 crore had been recovered. The court observed that simply issuing large numbers of e-challans is not enough and that authorities also need effective mechanisms to collect the fines.
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| Heavy traffic on a busy road, representing India's growing traffic enforcement and e-challan system. Photo credit: Unsplash. |
The court suggested exploring whether unpaid traffic fines could be added to electricity dues. However, this is currently a suggestion by the Supreme Court, not a nationwide rule requiring electricity departments to collect traffic fines or disconnect power connections.
The bench also discussed several other possible measures against vehicles with outstanding challans. These included blocking renewal of vehicle registration, restricting ownership transfers and duplicate registration certificates, and blacklisting vehicles on the Parivahan portal.
The court also suggested considering restrictions on fitness and Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates, as well as renewal of driving licences, until outstanding traffic fines are cleared.
Another measure discussed was random checking of vehicles. The court suggested that if a vehicle is found during such checks to have an unpaid e-challan, authorities could take necessary steps, including possible vehicle impounding.
The Supreme Court also asked senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, to prepare a chart showing the court's earlier road-safety directions, their compliance deadlines and their current implementation status.
The latest observations underline the court's focus on making traffic-violation penalties enforceable in practice rather than limiting enforcement to the issuance of electronic challans.