Fact Check: No, National Lok Adalat 2025 will not Clear All Traffic Challans with 80% Discount
A National Lok Adalat is a nationwide initiative in India that organizes "People's Courts" simultaneously across the country to settle a large number of pending cases
Claim :
National Lok Adalat is being conducted on September 13, 2025, where everyone can get discounts of up to 80% on traffic challansFact :
The claim is misleading. National Lok Adalat will deal only with non-compoundable traffic offences, not all pending challans
A National Lok Adalat is a nationwide initiative in India that organizes "People's Courts" simultaneously across the country to settle a large number of pending cases in a single day. It operates as an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism, providing a speedy, affordable, and amicable way to resolve disputes without formal litigation. Lok Adalats are designed for disputes that are suitable for compromise and mutual agreement. Some common examples include Matrimonial and family disputes: Cases related to maintenance, child custody, and other issues (excluding divorce). Motor accident claims: Compensation claims resulting from road accidents. Bank and financial recovery cases: Matters involving bank loans, credit card defaults, and other financial disputes. Traffic challans: Minor traffic violations, which often have fines reduced or waived. Compoundable criminal offenses: Minor offenses that can be legally compromised. Public utility disputes: Cases related to electricity, water, and other utility bills. Property disputes: Disputes concerning land, tenancy, and inheritance. This year’s National Lok Adalat is scheduled to be conducted on September 13, 2025.
Amidst this, some social media users are sharing posts and videos claiming that all pending traffic challans will be cleared by Lok Adalat and that people need to apply to the Lok Adalat to get the discount on the challans. These videos claim that by registering on the website of Lok Adalat, we can get discounts on the pending challans and also clear any pending cases relating to traffic.
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact check:
The claim is Misleading. National Lok Adalat does not clear all the pending traffic challans or provide discounts on all minor traffic challans.
Firstly, when we searched information to understand the functions and responsibilities of Lok Adalat. According to nalsa.com, Lok Adalat is one of the alternative dispute redressal mechanisms, it is a forum where disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/compromised amicably. Lok Adalats have been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Under the said Act, the award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal against such an award lies before any court of law. The nature of cases that are taken up by a Lok Adalat are cases that are pending in the court, disputes that have not been brought before any court and are likely to be filed before the court. Any issue relating to an offence not compoundable under the law shall not be settled in Lok Adalat.
Section 200 of the new MV Act highlights a list of offences that allow an offender to pay the fine on the spot to the police officer or online. The compoundable offences like jumping a traffic light, driving against the flow of traffic, unlicensed juvenile driving or driving under influence of intoxicants are all non-compoundable, which means that one must appear in court and the state judge is allowed to charge the violator with a penalty which is less than the minimum amount notified by the officials. As Lok Adalats deal with cases that require violators to appear in front of a judge, only non-compoundable offences will be cleared in the National Lok Adalat conducted on September 13, 2025. Compoundable offences like driving without license, driving while using a mobile phone, driving an uninsured vehicle etc. will not be cleared or discounted by the Lok Adalat.
This claim has also been refuted by the Cyberabad traffic police on their X account. They asked the users to ignore all fake messages/videos about 50% discount on all traffic challans! Lok Adalat is active, but only for a few cases: Drunken Driving, Driving without a License, Minors Driving without a License. No discounts on other e-challans. Do not believe fake news, trust only official updates from Cyberabad Traffic Police. For reporting violations: 9490617346
Hence, the claim that millions of traffic challans are going to be discounted on September 13, 2025 as part of National Lok Adalat is Misleading. Only a few cases like drunk driving, driving without license, and minors driving without license, which require the violator to visit court to pay the challan, will be resolved here.
