Supreme Court orders vehicle seizures and blocks on RC, PUC renewals for unpaid e-challans

What the Supreme Court ordered

The Supreme Court has directed states and Union Territories to impound vehicles, halt registration and pollution certificate renewals, and block sales for any vehicle with outstanding traffic fines.

Frustrated by billions of rupees in unpaid e-challans, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan said simply issuing electronic tickets does not work if there is no ground-level enforcement. About 47 percent of all e-challans generated across India currently remain unpaid.

To force compliance, the court directed authorities to freeze online services for defaulting vehicles. This includes blocking the renewal of registration certificates (RCs), refusing duplicate RCs, and denying address update requests.

Blocking sales and pollution certificates

Vehicles with outstanding fines must also be blacklisted on the central Parivahan portal, preventing owners from selling them or transferring ownership.

Additionally, the court ordered that no testing centre be permitted to issue a Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate, and authorities must withhold fitness certificates until all outstanding traffic fines are entirely cleared. For repeat offenders, the consequences are even more severe. Committing five or more offences in a single year constitutes a public nuisance, and the court has directed that driving licences for these motorists be suspended or blocked from renewal.

Over Rs 23,000 crore in unpaid fines

The scale of the problem is vast. The court was informed that states and Union Territories have to recover approximately Rs 49,194 crore in outstanding e-challans, while only about Rs 26,175 crore has been recovered so far.

The order was delivered in the long-running S. Rajasekaran vs Union of India road-safety case, which has been monitored by the court for 14 years. The bench warned that if these rules remain on paper and are not actively implemented, it will take stern action against the responsible officials.

Automated electronic enforcement

States and Union Territories must now implement a standard operating procedure for electronic enforcement, which was prepared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in October 2025. This framework relies on automated systems, such as speed cameras, CCTV, and speed guns, to monitor traffic.

The system must use AI to detect 12 categories of violations under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules and must integrate various national databases, including VAHAN-4 and SARATHI, into a unified National Road Safety System. A public dashboard, updated monthly, will track the number of active enforcement devices and the violations recorded in each state.

Other safety directives

The bench also turned its attention to pedestrian safety and overloaded trucks. It ordered that any overloaded transport vehicle must be stopped and blocked from proceeding until the excess load is physically removed.

In Delhi, the court questioned the slow progress of pedestrian safety measures on Mathura Road near the High Court and warned the Delhi Chief Secretary to file a compliance report or face being summoned to court in person. In Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was ordered to submit a progress report on its geospatial mapping of footpaths under its Universal Footpath Policy.