eChallan
Check pending and disposed traffic challans for a vehicle.
This tool reads the national eChallan registry for a vehicle registration number and returns every challan on record, split into pending and disposed, with the total amount currently outstanding at the top.
Each challan opens into the offence, fine, place and time, the issuing department, and - where the record carries it - the owner, driver, court and payment receipt. A used-vehicle buyer or fleet manager sees in one view whether a vehicle is clean or carries unpaid fines.
What is eChallan?
An eChallan is a traffic-offence notice recorded electronically against a vehicle registration number or a driving licence instead of in a paper challan book. The application is built and run by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and used by state traffic police and transport department (RTO) enforcement wings. It is an Android app plus a web portal, integrated with Vahan (registrations) and Sarathi (licences), so a challan raised against a plate picks up the owner and licence details automatically. The public portal is echallan.parivahan.gov.in, branded NextGen eChallan.
The legal basis is the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Section 200 lets an authorised officer compound listed offences - accept a fixed sum and close the matter without a court - and that sum is what a challan asks you to pay. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 (No. 32 of 2019, assent 9 August 2019, penalties in force from 1 September 2019) raised every amount: the general penalty from ₹100 to ₹500, no licence to ₹5,000, drink-driving to ₹10,000, no helmet or seat belt to ₹1,000. Rule 167 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (G.S.R. 594(E), 25 September 2020, in force 1 October 2020) set the procedure - pay or contest within 90 days, after which licence and registration applications could be held. Rule 167A (G.S.R. 575(E), 11 August 2021) governs camera enforcement and requires a photograph with every auto-generated challan.
The Central Motor Vehicles (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 48(E), 21 January 2026) substituted rule 167 and added clause (25) to rule 21: five or more offences in a year, counted from 1 January 2026, is now a ground for disqualifying a driving licence. As reported at notification, the new rule 167 requires an electronic challan to reach the registered mobile within 3 days (physical within 15), gives 45 days to pay or contest online with evidence, obliges the authority to decide a contest within 30 days, and lets an unpaid vehicle be flagged Not to be Transacted - no transfer, renewal or duplicate RC until dues are cleared.
How a challan moves from pending to disposed
A challan starts in one of two ways. On the road, an officer enters the plate or licence in the eChallan app, Vahan and Sarathi supply the owner and licence, the officer picks offences from the state's offence master, and the app prints or sends the challan with the compounding amount. Off the road, an electronic enforcement device under rule 167A - speed camera, red-light camera, ANPR or weigh-in-motion unit, certified annually by the state - captures the plate and the backend raises the challan with the photograph attached. Either way the record is stored centrally, an SMS goes to the Vahan-registered mobile, and the status is Pending.
Compoundable offences can be paid on the portal, in mParivahan or at a police counter, and the record becomes Disposed with a receipt number. Challans not paid in the window, or carrying non-compoundable offences, are marked Sent to Virtual Court or to a regular court. The Virtual Court, built by NIC for the e-Committee of the Supreme Court, consumes the challan, a judge imposes the fine online, and the owner gets an SMS to pay at vcourts.gov.in - payment there also disposes the challan. Contesting moves the case to the physical court for the circle where the offence was recorded.
- 1
Detection
An officer on the eChallan app or a rule 167A camera records the offence against the plate; Vahan and Sarathi supply the owner and licence details.
- 2
Notice
The challan is written to the central registry with a challan number and the SMS goes to the mobile linked in Vahan. Status: Pending.
- 3
Payment window
The owner pays on echallan.parivahan.gov.in, in mParivahan or at a counter. On payment the record shows Disposed with a receipt number.
- 4
Court transfer
Unpaid or non-compoundable challans are marked Sent to Virtual Court (or a regular court) with the date. Delhi's Virtual Court treats a case with no response for two months as overdue.
- 5
Adjudication
The Virtual Court judge imposes the fine, denies cognizance or transfers the case for trial. A contest by the owner also goes to the regular court.
- 6
Settlement
Payment at vcourts.gov.in, a Lok Adalat compromise or a court order closes the case; the status flows back to eChallan as Disposed.
How to check with eChallan
- 1
Enter the vehicle number
The registration number as printed on the plate, without spaces - TN37AB1234. The field accepts 5 to 11 letters and digits and upper-cases as you type.
- 2
Check
The lookup queries the eChallan registry through ULIP. A clean vehicle returns a Clean record panel; otherwise three tiles appear - Pending fine, Disposed, Latest challan - with Share and PDF buttons.
- 3
Read the challans
Switch between the Pending and Disposed tabs. Each card shows the challan number, status, fine, offences, issue time, location and issuing office; open Details for the people, authority, court and payment rows. Four cards show at a time - use Show more for the rest.
Why check a vehicle's challans
Fines follow the vehicle
Camera challans are raised against the registration, not the driver. A buyer inherits the plate's unpaid record, and a vehicle flagged Not to be Transacted cannot be transferred until it is paid.
Windows are short
Under the 2026 rule 167 an unanswered challan is treated as accepted after 45 days; under the older rule it went to court after 90. A monthly check catches a challan while it can still be paid at the compounding amount.
Licences are at stake
Five or more offences in a year from 1 January 2026 is a ground for licence disqualification, and helmet, two-wheeler overloading and repeat speeding offences carry their own three-month disqualification.
Evidence for disputes
The challan number, issuing office, place and time shown here are what the grievance portal and the Virtual Court ask for. A wrong-plate or duplicate challan is easier to contest with the record in hand.
Reading the result
Three tiles summarise the record; the tabs below list each challan as the registry holds it, newest first.
- Pending fine
- Sum of the fine on every challan still marked Pending, with the count. Red while anything is outstanding, green when the record is clear.
- Disposed
- Number of closed challans and the total settled - the received amount where the record carries a receipt, otherwise the fine imposed.
- Latest challan
- Date of the most recent challan of either status, with its status and the first part of the location or the issuing department.
- Challan No.
- The registry identifier. Quote it on the eChallan portal, the grievance form and at the Virtual Court.
- Fine due / Fine
- The compounding amount imposed - Fine due on a pending challan, Fine on a disposed one. A Virtual Court may impose a different sum, which appears under Received Amount.
- Offence
- Each offence charged, as named in the issuing state's offence master - Riding without helmet, Over speeding, Jumping red signal - one per line.
- Issued
- Date and time the challan was recorded, from the officer's device or the camera clock.
- Location
- Place of offence as typed by the officer or configured for the camera - a junction, a highway stretch or a camera site.
- Issued by
- The department (Traffic Police or Transport) and the RTO district or police unit that raised the challan. This is the office to approach for a correction.
- Owner · Driver · Violator · DL No.
- Under Details: the registered owner from Vahan, the driver stopped (blank on camera challans), the person charged, and the licence number entered.
- Sent to Virtual Court · Sent to Court On · Court
- Under Details: whether and when the challan was forwarded, and the court name and address. A Yes here means the fine is paid at vcourts.gov.in, not on the eChallan portal.
- Receipt No. · Received Amount
- Under Details on a disposed challan: the payment reference and the sum received - the proof of disposal an RTO asks for.
Example input
TN37AB1234
Two-letter state code, two-digit RTO code, series letters, four-digit number - exactly as on the plate, no spaces or hyphens. Bharat-series numbers such as 22BH1234AA work the same way.
Who uses it
Before buying a used vehicle
Unpaid challans stay attached to the registration, and a vehicle flagged for unpaid fines cannot be transferred. Check before paying a deposit.
Fleet and rental upkeep
Operators run every vehicle monthly so camera challans issued to the registered number reach the driver responsible while the payment window is open.
Before an RC, fitness or permit transaction
RTOs hold applications for vehicles with challans past their payment window. Clearing them first avoids a rejected transfer, fitness or permit renewal.
Reconciling a notice
Match an SMS or postal notice against the registry before paying - the challan number, place and time here are the ones the police record carries.
Common problems
No challans found but I received an SMS
Check the plate for typos - O against 0, I against 1 - and for spaces. A genuine SMS names the challan number; look it up by number on echallan.parivahan.gov.in. A few states run police portals outside the NIC registry, such as Telangana and Maharashtra, whose challans may not appear here. SMS links asking for card details are fraud - the portal never sends them.
The challan is for a vehicle or offence that is not mine
Raise a ticket on the eChallan grievance system (echallan.parivahan.gov.in/gsticket) with the challan number, a category - wrong vehicle number, two-wheeler challan on four-wheeler, duplicate payment - and a photo of your plate or RC. Helpdesk: [email protected], 0120-4925505, 6 AM to 10 PM. Under the 2026 rule 167 the contest must be lodged within 45 days of issue and decided within 30.
I paid but the challan still shows Pending
Payment status flows back from the bank and the Virtual Court in batches, so allow a working day. Use Check Failed Transaction and Check Pending Transaction on the portal with the transaction ID. Do not pay twice - duplicate-payment refunds take weeks.
The challan says Sent to Virtual Court
The eChallan portal will refuse payment. Search the case at vcourts.gov.in by vehicle or challan number, verify with the OTP sent to the registered mobile, and pay the fine the judge imposed; the case is disposed on payment. To contest, record the plea on the same page and the case moves to the regular court named in the summons.
Old challans I cannot afford to clear
National Lok Adalats settle compoundable challans at a reduced or waived fine four times a year; after 12 September 2026 the next is 12 December 2026. Delhi releases challan slips at traffic.delhipolice.gov.in/lokadalat a few days before, capped at 50,000 a day - the May 2026 sitting took challans pending up to 31 January 2026. Other states list through their District Legal Services Authority.
Frequently asked questions
Glossary
- Compounding
- Section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act: settling a listed offence by paying a fixed sum to an authorised officer instead of facing prosecution. The challan amount is the compounding fee.
- Pending
- A challan issued and neither paid nor closed by a court. Its fine counts toward the Pending fine tile.
- Disposed
- A challan closed by payment, court order, Lok Adalat settlement or cancellation by the issuing office. Shows a receipt number and received amount when paid.
- Virtual Court
- An online court run by each High Court on NIC's vcourts.gov.in, where one judge adjudicates traffic challans for the whole state and the violator pleads and pays without appearing.
- Lok Adalat
- A statutory settlement forum under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. National Lok Adalats sit four times a year and can compromise compoundable challans at reduced amounts.
- Rule 167 / 167A
- The Central Motor Vehicles Rules on challan procedure (timelines, notices, blocked applications) and on electronic enforcement devices (certification, photographic evidence).
- Not to be Transacted
- A Vahan flag on a vehicle with challans past the payment window; transfer, renewal and duplicate-RC applications are held until dues are cleared.
- CNR
- Case Number Record - the identifier the Virtual Court assigns once a challan is verified and registered as a case.