Electric scooter owner in India fined for riding two-wheeler without pollution certificate

There have been multiple reports of challans where the owner of a vehicle has been fined for a bizarre or rather unjustified reason. But the recent report of an Ather electric vehicle owner fined by traffic police for having no Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate takes bizarre up a notch. The incident is now going viral on the internet. Initially, the photo of the electric scooter with the challan receipt issued by the authorities. Since then, the photos of the challan have been doing the rounds on the internet.

Based on the photo of the challan receipt for the Ather electric scooter, the Pollution Under Control Certificate was not produced on demand. It also mentioned Section 213(5)(e) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, adding to a total of Rs 250 fine for the electric scooter owner. On one of the posts, Ather CEO Tarun Mehta reacted, saying, “sigh.”

Needless to say, no pollution certificate is required for electric vehicles. The PUC certificates are only needed for vehicles that produce fumes. These certificates are very important for vehicles with internal combustion engines operating on fossil fuels. In some places like Delhi-NCR, the certificate is even needed on fuel pumps. This certificate is of importance to keep a check on the pollution or harmful emissions released by a vehicle.

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Since electric vehicles are more environmentally friendly, the Indian government is working on increasing the EV adoption rate in the country. Moreover, when compared to vehicles using fossil fuels.

This is not the first time that such a case has come to light. In the past, there have been cases when a car owner was fined for not wearing a helmet while driving. However, in such circumstances, the explanation often is the wrong entry of reason by the operator issuing a challan. These cases often get hyped and get lots of attention on social media because of their bizarre nature.