No NOC or fitness certificate without toll payment on India’s highways, Centre rules

India’s central government has tightened toll collection rules on national highways, introducing stricter measures to prevent evasion and ensure recovery of unpaid dues. Under the new framework, vehicles with pending toll payments will be denied key clearances, including no-objection certificates (NOC), fitness certificates and national permits, officials said.

The initiative aims to address situations where vehicles bypass toll plazas without making payments due to FASTag malfunctions or technical issues. Authorities will now keep separate digital records of such vehicles to ensure the collection of unpaid toll fees.

According to the revised rules, vehicle owners who fail to clear outstanding toll dues will not be issued an NOC, which is required for re-registering a vehicle in another state or transferring ownership. Commercial vehicles will also be affected, as fitness certificates will not be issued or renewed until all pending toll charges are paid.

Furthermore, applications for national permits for commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses will be scrutinised to check for unpaid toll amounts before approval.

Officials said that vehicles passing through toll plazas with insufficient FASTag balance or blacklisted tags will be automatically recorded using RFID readers. The vehicle details will then be shared with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the concerned banks.

The information will also be integrated into the digital records maintained by NPCI and the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, enabling authorities to track violations and enforce compliance more effectively.