No selling car if you don’t pay toll dues:Additionally, car owner will not get NOC, fitness certificate national permit, says govt

The government had tightened toll rules on National Highways on Tuesday. Now vehicles that don’t pay toll will not receive services like NOC, fitness certificate and national permit. These changes have been made under Central Motor Vehicles Rules 2026. The aim is to strengthen electronic toll collection and prevent toll evasion. Sometimes at National Highway toll plazas, due to technical issues, toll is not deducted when the vehicle’s FASTag is scanned. Vehicles also cross toll when FASTag balance is low. Now such vehicles’ pending amount will be linked to the vehicle’s record. Which services will be stopped? After the new rules come into effect, if any vehicle has pending toll dues, these services will be stopped. How will this system work? The process of linking toll dues with vehicle records will be completely digital and automated. It can be understood in 3 steps: 1. Sensor and Camera at Toll Plaza: As soon as your vehicle passes through a toll plaza, the RFID reader installed there scans your FASTag. If the FASTag has low balance or is blacklisted, the system immediately records that vehicle’s registration number (VRN). In the future ‘Multi-Lane Free Flow’ (MLFF) system, there won’t even be barriers – high-definition cameras will directly capture photos of your number plate. 2. Notification to NPCI and Bank: The toll plaza server sends this information to the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC), which is managed by NPCI. This is where it’s determined which bank’s FASTag was supposed to deduct money and why it didn’t. 3. Data sync with ‘VAHAN’ portal: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has synced its ‘VAHAN’ database with the toll collection system. As soon as any toll remains unpaid, NPCI sends that data to the ministry’s server. There, based on the vehicle’s engine number and chassis number, that outstanding amount is added to your digital record. New definition set for ‘Unpaid Toll User’ The government has also defined the term ‘unpaid toll user’ in the rules. Under this, if a vehicle’s movement is recorded through Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system like FASTag, but its payment has not been received according to the National Highway Act, 1956, it will be considered as outstanding. This means if your FASTag had low balance and you crossed the toll, that outstanding amount will be linked to your vehicle’s record. Preparation for barrier-free toll collection This step by the government is considered very important for the future ‘Multi-Lane Free Flow’ (MLFF) tolling system. In this system, there will be no physical toll plaza or barrier on the highway. Vehicles will pass through the highway at high speed, and installed cameras and sensors will automatically deduct the toll. This will eliminate long queues at toll plazas and save fuel. Since no vehicle can be stopped on the spot for toll collection without barriers, the government has linked it to vehicle documents (NOC and fitness) so that people make payments on time themselves. Major changes made in Form 28 Form 28 used for NOC has also been updated. Now the vehicle owner will have to self-declare in this form that there are no pending toll dues on their vehicle. Along with this, the vehicle owner will also have to provide relevant toll details. To promote digital methods, the government has also made provisions that some parts of Form 28 can now be issued electronically through the online portal.