Repeat violators of MV Act likely to lose vehicle registration

Bhubaneswar: Beware, repeat offenders violating the Motor Vehicles Act. Vehicles running without pollution under control certificates (PUCCs) and fitness certificates stand to lose their registration.Transport minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena warned on Thursday that the govt will cancel registration certificates (RCs) of vehicles which defy PUCC and fitness norms.Addressing mediapersons here on Thursday, Jena appealed to people to regularise their vehicles’ PUCCs and fitness certificates. “We will take immediate action against vehicles which lack PUCCs and fitness certificates. We have enough power to do this but we ask for people’s cooperation in obeying rules and laws. If any vehicle owner does not obey the law and behaves defiantly, we will cancel the RC of his vehicle,” said Jena.Jena informed the Assembly on Thursday that 1,171 out of 4,045 buses engaged in different educational institutions in the state do not possess fitness certificates. “In Bhubaneswar, 17 buses out of 796 buses of educational institutions lack fitness certificates,” said the reply.“Our department staff conduct daily inspections and issue e-challans to buses operated by educational institutions for running without fitness certificates,” said the minister.Replying to another question, the minister said the govt did not give any instruction to toll gates to issue e-challans for vehicles without PUCCs.Recently, the department proposed lowering the penalty for violations of PUCC norms from the existing Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,000 for two-wheelers and Rs 2,000 for other vehicles. The govt is planning this following widespread resentment among motorists during stricter enforcement drives.The govt also plans to relaunch enforcement against PUCC violations from April 1. Enforcement was halted since late Dec 2025 after massive public outrage over the “no PUCC, no fuel” plan, which was intended to deny petrol to vehicles without valid certificates. It recently withdrew the plan and suspended e-detection of PUCC violations at toll gates.