The Motor Vehicles Act has affected every single Indian road user in some way or the other. Some have become extremely cautious about traffic rules, some have found jugaadu ways to evade challans and some have been heavily penalised for violations. But ever since the new rules have come into effect, there have been some unusual incidents too. For example, a car-owner who was wrongly fined for not wearing a helmet. And now this.
On July 26, Sanjiv a 21-year-old resident of Chandigarh was served a challan of Rs. 300 for taking a wrong U-turn. Upon reaching court, he found 189 other challans issued against the bike registered in his name for the period between 2017 and 2019.
According to The Times of India, they were issued via traffic violation information slip (TVIS). These e-challans are for violations captured by CCTV cameras and are required to be sent to the vehicle owner’s registered address. However, Sanjiv claims that he was completely unaware of them. Hindustan Times quoted him saying that the bike in question was purchased second-hand about 1.5 years ago.
“I have been driving carefully, and more so after the new regulations came into force. I had no clue that these many challans are pending against me. Why did no one ever inform me about these pending challans?”
According to the rules, if these pending dues aren’t paid, the vehicle can be blacklisted by the police after which it can’t be sold or transferred. Which is why text messages are sent to owners to remind them of the same. A failure to pay even after 3 reminders will result in the vehicle being impounded.
Did you know, Delhi residents can check pending notices against them by inserting their vehicle number here? Does your city’s traffic police website have a similar facility too? Let us know in the comments below.