Motorists who fail to pay toll fees after reaching the end may soon be denied access to key vehicle-related services and driving licences, according to the draft amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, issued by the Union Ministry of Road Transport. The proposal also provides for time-limited electronic adjudication of traffic violations and stipulates penalties for officials who delay decisions.
The draft rules propose that once a challenge has reached the end – either because it has not been appealed within the specified period or after adjudication – and remains unpaid, licensing and registration authorities will not process applications for the offender’s driving license or vehicle registration until the challenge is disposed of.
The vehicle will also be marked as ‘unhandleable’ on the portal, while the registered owner or license holder will receive electronic alerts. However, this restriction will not apply while awaiting trial before a court or judicial authority, and vehicle tax related applications will continue to be processed.
The proposed amendments are part of a broader reform of the digital traffic enforcement framework under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules. The Center invites objections and suggestions regarding the draft for 30 days prior to notification of the final rules.
“We have digitized the challans; now we must digitize accountability for citizens and officials alike,” said former National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Indian Telecom Service (ITS) chief Akhilesh Srivastava. “Linking RC services and licenses to unpaid fines finally gives us enforcement powers, but $5000 penalty for late arbitrators is the real headline. India has rarely legislated consequences for its own agencies.
“After building the backend of FASTag at NHAI, I can say that the difficult part was never the rules facing citizens. It is the interoperability between challan portals, court records and vehicle databases. If this plumbing is not seamless, the ‘don’t handle’ principle will penalize honest motorists caught up in the system’s delays, not the violators. Get the design right, and this is India’s model for India’s first real step towards responsible, real-time traffic enforcement,” he added.
The proposal also states that each state government will be required to establish a dedicated arbitration mechanism for traffic penalties within six months of the rules coming into force.
States will have to designate jurisdictions for each district or part thereof, establish facilities for electronic hearings, including video conferencing, and ensure that orders are issued within 30 days of the hearing. Appeals against such orders will be filed before an appellate authority not below the rank of Additional District Judge or equivalent, who must also decide the appeals within 30 days.
The project also proposes imposing sanctions on officials who deal with such cases. If the judicial or appellate authority fails to issue an order or dispose of the appeal within the specified time, you may face a penalty ranging from $5000 LBP $10,000.
The Ministry also proposed granting legal recognition to electronic traffic warnings. Instead of warnings remaining informal, warnings issued for violations under the Motor Vehicle Act or rules will be digitally recorded on the portal and counted as previous violations while determining repeat offences. These warnings will become final if they are accepted or after the notification against them is rejected.
Separately, the draft introduces an electronic process for deregistration of vehicles if the vehicle is destroyed, rendered permanently unusable, scrapped by a registered vehicle scrapping facility, or permanently removed from India. Owners will have to notify the registering authority electronically, generally within 30 days of the event, after which the authority will notify both the owner and the insurer if the registration is cancelled. New models 37A and 37B have been proposed for this process.
The draft also proposes several procedural amendments, including extending the single 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.
