The Maharashtra cabinet has approved the Maharashtra Traffic Police E-Challan Amnesty Scheme 2026, offering a one-time concession of up to 20% on outstanding traffic violation penalties across the state. The decision is intended to help vehicle owners clear long-pending dues as unpaid e-challans issued since 2019 have reached Rs 5,724 crore, according to traffic police data reported by the Times of India.
The scheme was approved by the cabinet on Wednesday and will apply to pending traffic penalties accumulated under Maharashtra’s “one state, one e-challan” system. The reported decision does not specify in the available information how the concession will vary across categories of offences or the deadline by which motorists must settle their dues.
Between January 2019 and August 2026, authorities issued 12.8 crore e-challans carrying penalties of Rs 8,678 crore. Of these, 5.43 crore challans were cleared, generating Rs 2,953 crore in revenue. The remaining 7.2 crore challans are pending, leaving authorities with a large recovery backlog.
Officials said the amnesty is expected to encourage defaulters to make voluntary payments while reducing the burden on the enforcement and adjudication system. Maharashtra has only a limited number of dedicated traffic courts, while nearly 15,000 new challans are generated each day, according to the report.
The scale of the pending cases places pressure on a system that must handle both fresh violations and older unpaid penalties. The figures also show the difference between the reach of digital enforcement and the state’s ability to secure payment after a challan is issued. While e-challans have enabled authorities to record violations at a large scale, millions of cases remain unresolved.
Bal Malkit Singh, adviser and former president of the All India Motor Transport Congress, welcomed the decision, saying the one-time concession would help vehicle owners, fleet operators and commercial transporters manage long-pending dues. He also said it could improve compliance and bring greater financial discipline into the system.
Officials have pointed to Lok Adalats as an existing mechanism that has traditionally helped resolve e-challan disputes at the pre-litigation stage. The traffic police have also proposed portable road-safety counselling booths, where offenders would attend two-hour awareness sessions. That proposal is awaiting government approval and is separate from the approved amnesty scheme.
The cabinet decision comes as Maharashtra continues to manage a growing volume of digitally recorded traffic violations, unpaid penalties and disputes. Authorities expect the concession to increase recovery of pending dues and improve compliance with traffic regulations. Further operational details of the 2026 scheme, including the payment process and implementation timeline, are yet to be announced in the reported information.
