The City Traffic Police Lahore (CTPL) in collaboration with the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) has started a proper enforcement exercise against all non-standard, tampered, missing and fake registration plates in Lahore, the provincial capital. There are strict instructions issued by the Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Lahore on traffic wardens to make sure that the Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera can easily read all vehicles that are roaming on the road. If you’re driving on the roads with non-compliant plates or are using an unauthorized “Applied For” status, you now face an immediate fine of Rs. 3,000 fine for cars and Rs. 1,000 for motorcycles.
Major Violations Under Scrutiny
Cloth or Taped Plates: Taping over plates with plastic or tinting plates or deliberately breaking and bending plates to avoid electronic enforcement cameras.
Non-Standard Typography: Using font typefaces, fancy lettering, styling, or personalised company or community logos instead of the registered sequence.
Forgetting to take off unapproved green plates or illegal government status markers or putting on fake government plates on private cars. These specific violations result in direct Criminal FIRs rather than simple fines.
Persistent “Applied For” Status: Operating vehicles on public roads without having an officially assigned registration number from the database.
How to Verify Your Plate & Check For E-Challans Online
Before hitting the road, drivers should verify that their vehicle information is synchronized correctly within Punjab’s traffic management portals.
1. Check Your Active E-Challan Status
To see if your vehicle has been flagged by automated traffic cameras for a plate violation, use the electronic tracking database:
Navigate directly to the official PSCA E-Challan Web Portal.
Input your Vehicle Registration Number (e.g., LEA-20-1234).
Provide your 13-digit CNIC or your vehicle’s Chassis Number to fetch outstanding penalties.
2. Cross-Verify Registration with MTMIS Punjab
Ensure your vehicle’s specifications exactly mirror the data kept by the taxation authorities:
Visit the centralized MTMIS Punjab Online Portal.
Enter your numeric registration to verify the operational layout status, ownership data, and token tax compliance.
Shift in Law: How to Legally Procure Plates via Private Vendors
In a historic policy transition, the Punjab Excise, Taxation, and Narcotics Control Department officially abolished the centralized government-run manufacturing system for vehicle number plates. The government no longer issues or collects fees for physical plates.
Instead, citizens can legally manufacture number plates through private vendors in the open market. Traffic police have been strictly instructed not to fine motorists using privately made plates, provided the designs strictly adhere to the government’s standard background colors, dimension sizing, and font shapes.
Step-by-Step Number Plates Compliance Guide
- Extract Your Data: Check your official alphanumeric registration breakdown on the Punjab Excise and Taxation Portal to review the required universal parameters.
- Settle Dues via e-Pay: For unregistered vehicles or to clear registration profiles, open the official e-Pay Punjab App to submit necessary government processing fees smoothly online.
- Order via Private Vendor: Take your verified registration details to an expert local plate marker. Tell the vendor to make an exact copy of the official layout given by Punjab, using exact font sizes and color coding.
- In-Person Adjustments: If you have identified some mismatch or the database of your profile needs to be corrected in real-time, visit a nearby e-Khidmat Markaz Center (at Town Hall or Arfa Software Technology Park, Lahore) to get real-time database changes.
