Supreme Court says seize vehicle, stop RC, PUC renewal if e-challans not paid

NEW DELHI: Many vehicle owners often ignore traffic fines for years, allowing unpaid challans to pile up and eventually land in courts. Supreme Court has now directed states and UTs to impound their vehicles, noting that around 47% of challans issued across the country remain unpaid.A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan said Thursday that issuing e-challans was not sufficient and stringent action should be taken to recover fines."Let there be random checking of vehicles, and if it is found that the e-challan issued has not been abided by or honoured, necessary steps shall be taken to impound the vehicle itself," the bench said.SC said the authorities should freeze online services for vehicles with outstanding amounts. They should bar renewal of registration certificates, issuing of duplicate registration certificates, and not entertain any request to update the owner's address, it said.