Who pays the challan, owner or driver? Setting a fair fleet policy

Every fleet ends up arguing about challans. The owner says the driver was speeding. The driver says the owner forgot the PUC. Both are sometimes right. A written policy that divides challans by cause, applied the same way to everyone, ends most of these arguments before they start.

Start with the cause, not the amount

Challans on goods vehicles fall into two broad groups. The first group is about the vehicle's papers, which are the owner's job to keep current. The second is about how the truck was driven, which is in the driver's hands.

Two rows need care. Overloading is often decided at the loading point, not by the driver, so the policy should say who signs off the load. And a driver without a valid licence is also the owner's problem: Section 180 makes allowing an unlicensed person to drive an offence, up to ₹5,000. States can set different compounding amounts.

Write it down

A policy that lives in the owner's head will be applied differently on different days. Write a one-page policy, in the drivers' language, and have each driver read and sign it when they join. It should say:

• Which challans the company pays, and which the driver pays.
• How the driver is told about a challan, and how long he has to respond.
• How the driver can dispute a challan he believes was not his, for example when the trip record shows a different driver.
• How any amount is recovered, and the limits on recovery.
• What happens after repeated offences: a conversation, coaching, then other steps.

Any recovery from wages has to follow the law on wage deductions and what the driver has agreed in writing. Check with your accountant or legal adviser before you start deducting.

Make attribution fair

The policy only works if each challan is put on the right driver. That needs two things: knowing about the challan quickly, and knowing who was driving at that time and place.

• Check challans daily for every vehicle, so each one is fresh. A challan from last week can be matched to a trip; one from last year usually cannot.
• Keep a duty record of which driver had which truck on which day, including relief drivers.
• Show the driver the evidence. Camera challans carry a photograph and the time and place. A driver who sees it rarely disputes it.

If the attribution is wrong even once in a while, drivers stop trusting the system, and good drivers leave for fleets that treat them fairly. Getting the attribution right is as important as the policy itself.

Do not make drivers pay for paper lapses

A driver stopped for an expired fitness certificate or a lapsed policy did nothing wrong. Making him pay, even informally by leaving him to settle it at the checkpoint, is the quickest way to lose him. The fix for paper challans is to stop the lapses, not to pass on the cost. Read From register to WhatsApp for how a 60-truck office keeps track of every date.

Use the data for coaching

Once every challan is on the right driver, a monthly review shows patterns. One driver with repeated speed challans on the same stretch of highway needs a conversation. A route where several drivers collect red-light challans may need a different timing. The aim is fewer challans, not more recoveries.

Where PRACHSO fits

PRACHSO checks every vehicle for new e-challans daily and assigns each one to the driver on duty at the time, using the duty roster. The driver gets the challan and the evidence on WhatsApp, and the office sees the status: pending, paid, recovered or in virtual court. Recovery from drivers is a setting you control, applied only where your fleet policy allows it.