EPA Smoke Direction Slip in Punjab: 7 Days to Fix the Vehicle, Documents Held and a Rs 200 a Day Penalty

If a Punjab EPA officer stops your vehicle for smoke and hands you a direction slip, you have at most seven days to fix the vehicle and bring it back for re-inspection. The officer can keep your registration book, driving licence or CNIC until then. Miss the date and the penalty under the Administrative Penalty Rules is at least Rs 200 for every day the vehicle keeps failing, the vehicle can be impounded, and the case can go to an Environmental Magistrate, who must decide it within 30 days.

Those rules are the Punjab Environmental Protection (Motor Vehicles) Rules 2013 and the Punjab Environmental Protection (Administrative Penalty) Rules 2013, both made under the Punjab Environmental Protection Act 1997. We read both on the Environment Protection Department's site on 19 October 2026. They are the legal spine of every smoky vehicle crackdown in the province, including the direction slips the EPA is issuing to heavy vehicles caught on Safe City cameras under its Pre-Smog Action Plan 2026.

A direction slip is an order to fix the vehicle, not a traffic challan

The slip is issued under section 15(2) of the Act by an EPA officer authorised by the Director General. It tells the owner what to do: install a pollution control device, use a different fuel, carry out maintenance or get the vehicle tested. The rules say the slip itself counts as the show cause notice, so there is no separate warning letter before it.

Rule 2(g) defines "owner" to include the driver, contractor, operator or occupant. So a hired driver can be handed the slip and the documents taken from him. A traffic police e-challan is a different thing under a different law, and paying one does not settle the other. Where traffic challans live is in the guide to checking a Punjab e-challan online.

The test must be done on the spot with a calibrated instrument, in front of you

Rule 4(2) says the officer examines the vehicle through a calibrated instrument, for smoke, exhaust, noise and vibration, in the presence of the owner, at the spot. A slip written without a meter reading, or while you were away from the vehicle, does not follow the rule. Ask to see the reading and ask that it be written on the slip under the "nature of offence" line.

Rule 4(7) says the officer wears a notified uniform, may use revolving green lights on the duty vehicle, and may call on local or traffic police, transport authorities or the district administration for help. Rule 4(8) requires a daily diary register of every vehicle inspected, with the instruments used, which is the record a magistrate later sees.

For heavy transport vehicles, the EPA's Pre-Smog Action Plan 2026 adds a second route: slips issued to trucks identified as emitting black smoke through Punjab Safe Cities Authority cameras. How that works for sand and clay trolleys is in the guide to avoiding a black smoke direction slip in Punjab.

You get up to seven days, and your documents stay with the officer

Rule 4(4) fixes the re-inspection within seven days, at a site the officer names. Rule 4(5) lets the officer retain the registration book, driving licence or CNIC and record it on the slip. Rule 4(6) makes the officer responsible for keeping those documents safe and producing them in court if needed. Get the slip, because it is your only receipt for the papers.

1. Read the slip and check the re-inspection date, place and the list of documents taken.
2. Do the repair the slip names: a tune, injector or filter work, or whatever the direction says.
3. Get the vehicle tested, so you have a reading that passes before you return.
4. Present the vehicle at the named site on or before the date.
5. On a pass, the officer records compliance and returns your documents under rule 4(9)(a).

Commercial vehicles already face a six-monthly fitness test at the Transport Department's VICS stations, and a current certificate is useful evidence at re-inspection. The test rules are in the guide to the Punjab vehicle fitness certificate. It does not replace the EPA re-inspection, though; the slip names its own site and date.

Fail the re-inspection and the penalty is at least Rs 200 a day

If the direction is not complied with, rule 4(9)(b) lets the officer prepare the Schedule II inventory and either impose an administrative penalty or file a complaint before the Environmental Magistrate. The Administrative Penalty Rules 2013 set floors per day of contravention. For a section 15 breach, which is what a smoky vehicle is, the penalty is not less than Rs 200 for every day the contravention continues. The rules set no ceiling beyond the amount in the show cause notice.

The penalty notice comes in two steps. Form A is a show cause notice giving seven days to reply, with a hearing if you ask for one. Form B is the demand to pay by a date. Paying it means you are not charged with an offence for that contravention. Not paying means proceedings in court. The rules also keep a register of every notice, open to the public in office hours, so a penalty is not a private matter.

One rule works against repeat offenders. Rule 3(3) of the penalty rules says the administrative penalty route is not available to anyone previously convicted under the Act, anyone who compounded an offence, or anyone who already paid an administrative penalty before. A second slip can therefore go straight to the magistrate.

The vehicle can be impounded, and the magistrate has 30 days

Rule 5 allows the officer, with local police, to impound a vehicle still operating in breach after the days on the slip have passed, or even after a penalty has been imposed. The vehicle stops operating until the direction is complied with and is handed to the police station against an inventory, entered in the station's register. Only the Environmental Magistrate can order its release, on conditions.

Rule 6 requires the magistrate to conclude the case within 30 days and send the order to the Director General and the officer. Any fine is deposited in a government head of account, and officers report fines weekly. A fine paid in cash at the roadside to anyone is not a fine under these rules, and the slip has no line for it.

If a smoking vehicle near you is somebody else's, the EPA takes complaints on 1373, its WhatsApp line and the Green Punjab app, the same channels set out in the guide to reporting a smoking kiln or factory in Punjab. The traffic police crackdown ordered before this smog season, and what it targets, is in our report on the Punjab crackdown on smoky vehicles.

What the rules do not say

They do not print the smoke limit. That sits in the Punjab Environmental Quality Standards for motor vehicle exhaust and noise, a scanned notification on the EPD site that we could not read, so we do not quote a figure. They do not set a fee for re-inspection, and they do not say how long documents are kept if you never return. They also do not name the Emission Testing Stations the EPA runs; the department's helpline for those is 1373.

Common questions

How long do I have after an EPA direction slip in Punjab?

Not more than seven days. Rule 4(4) of the Motor Vehicles Rules 2013 fixes the re-inspection date and site within that limit.

Can the EPA officer keep my licence or registration book?

Yes. Rule 4(5) allows the officer to retain the registration book, driving licence or CNIC and must list it on the slip. It is returned when you comply.

What is the fine for a smoky vehicle in Punjab?

The administrative penalty for a section 15 breach is at least Rs 200 for each day the breach continues, under the Administrative Penalty Rules 2013. A magistrate can also fine you under the Act.

Can my vehicle be impounded?

Yes, with police help, if it is still operating in breach after the slip's date, or even after a penalty. It stays at the police station until the direction is met or a magistrate releases it.

Is the direction slip the same as a traffic e-challan?

No. The slip is an EPA order under the environment law. A traffic challan is issued by the police under traffic law. Each has to be dealt with separately.

Does a fitness certificate protect me?

It helps as evidence, but the rules still require the EPA re-inspection on the slip's date. A commercial vehicle needs both.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked 19 October 2026. Every rule number, the seven-day limit, the document retention, the impounding, the 30-day trial limit and the slip's contents come from the Punjab Environmental Protection (Motor Vehicles) Rules 2013, notified 24 December 2013. The penalty floors, the Form A and Form B procedure, the seven-day reply period and the public register come from the Punjab Environmental Protection (Administrative Penalty) Rules 2013. Both were read on the EPD site on 19 October 2026. The Safe City camera route is from EPA Order No. 507/PA/DG/EPA/2026 of 5 July 2026. We could not read the scanned emission standards notification and quote no smoke limit; we did not test the process ourselves.