Check Challan by Vehicle Number & Pay Online
Look up pending traffic challans on the official e-Challan portal, pay them online, or contest one you think is wrong. Since 21 January 2026 the rules give you a fixed window to respond — and a challan you ignore now blocks licence and registration work on your vehicle.
Written and checked byManju Shekhar· Motor Law & Compliance· Updated 13 September 2026
Check your challans now
Search by vehicle number, DL number or challan number. Free to check.
Official MoRTH portal · echallan.parivahan.gov.in. SignalPe never asks you to pay.
How to check and pay a challan
- 1
Open the official e-Challan portal
Go to echallan.parivahan.gov.in. Payment links that arrive by SMS or WhatsApp are a common scam — type the address yourself. - 2
Search by vehicle, DL or challan number
Enter your vehicle registration number (e.g. DL01AB1234), driving licence number or the challan number, then the captcha. - 3
Review each challan
Check the offence, date, place and amount. Camera challans usually carry photo evidence — confirm it is your vehicle. - 4
Pay — or contest within 45 days
Pay online by card, UPI or net banking, or raise a dispute on the portal with supporting documents.
The 2026 deadlines: 45 days to pay or contest
The Central Motor Vehicles (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified on 21 January 2026, replaced Rule 167 with a fixed timetable for every challan, physical or electronic.
- Within 3 daysAn e-challan must reach you by electronic means (a physical challan within 15 days).
- Within 45 daysPay the challan, or contest it on the portal with documentary evidence.
- Day 45, no responseThe challan is treated as accepted.
- Next 30 daysAn accepted challan must be paid, online or in person.
- If contestedThe authority decides within 30 days. A quashed challan ceases to have effect.
- Still unpaidLicence and registration applications linked to the offender or vehicle are not processed, and the vehicle can be flagged "Not to be Transacted".
What the portal shows
- Pending and paid challans for a vehicle or licence
- Offence, date, place and fine amount
- Photo evidence for camera-issued challans
- Whether a challan has been sent to court
Avoid fake challan messages
- Do not pay through a link in an SMS or WhatsApp message
- Never install an app to “view” a challan
- Official payment sites end in .gov.in
- When in doubt, search your vehicle number on the portal yourself
Check the amount is right
Pay, contest or settle a challan
Traffic challan FAQs
How do I check a challan by vehicle number?
Open echallan.parivahan.gov.in, choose to search by vehicle number, enter the registration number and captcha, and the portal lists challans raised against that vehicle with the offence, date, place and amount. You can also search by driving licence number or challan number. Checking is free.
How many days do I have to pay a traffic challan?
Under Rule 167 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules as substituted on 21 January 2026, you have 45 days from the date a challan is issued to either pay it or contest it on the portal. If you do neither, the challan is treated as accepted, and it must then be paid within the next 30 days.
What happens if I do not pay a challan?
Once the deadlines pass, applications relating to the licence of the offender or the registration of the vehicle named in the challan are not processed — for example a licence renewal, an ownership transfer or hypothecation removal — and the vehicle can be flagged "Not to be Transacted" until the dues are cleared. Unpaid challans also count towards the five-offences-a-year ground for licence disqualification.
How do I contest a wrong challan?
Raise the dispute on the e-Challan portal within 45 days of issue and attach documentary evidence — for example proof you had sold the vehicle, a valid PUC or insurance certificate on the date, or a photo showing the plate was misread. The authority has 30 days to decide. If it quashes the challan, the challan ceases to have effect.
Why is my challan not showing online?
Rule 167 allows up to 3 days for an e-challan to reach you and 15 days for a physical one, so a recent challan may not appear yet. Some states also run their own portal — Delhi and Maharashtra among them — and challans already sent to court are handled through the Virtual Courts portal.
I received a challan payment link by SMS. Is it genuine?
Treat any payment link in a message with suspicion. Fake e-challan messages that lead to lookalike websites or ask you to install an app are a well-known fraud. Do not click the link: open echallan.parivahan.gov.in or your state traffic police website yourself and search by vehicle number. Government payment sites end in .gov.in, and a genuine challan never requires installing an app.
Can I pay a challan issued in another state?
If the issuing state uses the national e-Challan system, yes — search by vehicle number on echallan.parivahan.gov.in and pay online from anywhere. If the challan was issued through a state-run system or has been sent to court, pay through that state portal or Virtual Courts.
Do challans count towards licence suspension?
Yes. From 1 January 2026, committing five or more offences in one year is a ground on which a licensing authority may disqualify a driving licence under Rule 21(25). A challan you neither pay nor contest is treated as accepted and stays on your record.