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Chapter XIII — Offences, Penalties And Procedure

Section 177 — General provision for punishment of offences

Written and checked byManju Shekhar· Motor Law & Compliance· Updated 10 October 2026

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Act 59 of 1988)

Text of the section

General provision for punishment of offences.—Whoever contravenes any provision of this Act or of any rule, regulation or notification made thereunder shall, if no penalty is provided for the offence be punishable for the first offence with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, and for any second or subsequent offence with fine which may extend to three hundred rupees.

Reproduced from the India Code text of the Act. Bracketed superscript numerals are the official footnote markers for earlier amendments.

Amended by the 2019 Amendment Act

In section 177 of the principal Act, for the words “one hundred rupees” and “three hundred rupees”, the words “five hundred rupees” and “one thousand and five hundred rupees” shall respectively be substituted. 59.

This is the amending instruction from the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 32 of 2019), quoted verbatim. Read it together with the text above — the consolidated version is the section as it reads once these changes are applied.

Amended by the Jan Vishwas Act, 2026 — in force from 15 August 2026

(T) For sections 177 and 177A, the following sections shall be substituted, namely:— “177. General provision for punishment of offences.—Whoever contravenes any provision of this Act or of any rule, regulation or notification made thereunder shall, if no fine or penalty is provided for the offence, for the first contravention be issued a warning recorded in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government, and for any second or subsequent contravention with penalty which shall not be less than five hundred rupees, but may extend to one thousand and five hundred rupees. 177A. Penalty for contravention of regulations under section 118.—(1) Whoever contravenes the regulations made under section 118 shall, for the first contravention be issued a warning recorded in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government, and for any second or subsequent contravention with penalty which shall not be less than five hundred rupees, but may extend to one thousand rupees. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), if any contravention of regulations made under section 118 is also an offence punishable with penalty or fine under any other provision of this Act, the penalty or fine imposed only under such other provision shall be applicable.”.

Amending instruction from the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026 (No. 8 of 2026), Schedule entry 51, quoted verbatim. It took effect for the Motor Vehicles Act on 15 August 2026 under S.O. 4100(E), 24 July 2026. Where it conflicts with the text above, this later change prevails.

Before you rely on this. The base text above is the Act as consolidated by the India Code, which predates the 2019 amendment; 2019 and 2026 changes are shown separately rather than merged in. Later amendments may also apply. For anything official, read the current text on the e-Gazette or the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways site.

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