Mera Samvidhaan All of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988

Chapter XIII · Offences, Penalties and Procedure

178Penalty for travelling without pass or ticket and for dereliction of duty on the part of conductor and refusal to ply contract carriage, etc.

Section 178 · Chapter XIII · page 100 of the Act

(1) Whoever travels in a stage carriage without having a proper pass or ticket with him or being in or having alighted from a stage carriage fails or refuses to present for examination or to deliver up his pass or ticket immediately on a requisition being made therefor, shall be 2[liable for a penalty] which may extend to five hundred rupees.

Explanation.—In this section, “pass” and “ticket” have the meanings respectively assigned to them in section 124.

(2) If the conductor of a stage carriage, or the driver of a stage carriage performing the functions of a conductor in such stage carriage, whose duty is—

(a) to supply a ticket to a person travelling in a stage carriage on payment of fare by such person, either wilfully or negligently,—

(i) fails or refuses to accept the fare when tendered, or

(ii) fails or refuses to supply a ticket, or

(iii) supplies an invalid ticket, or

(iv) supplies a ticket of a lesser value, or

(b) to check any pass or ticket, either wilfully or negligently fails or refuses to do so, he shall be 1[liable for a penalty] which may extend to five hundred rupees.

(3) If the holder of a permit or the driver of a contract carriage 3[while being on duty] refuses, in contravention of the provisions of this Act or rules made thereunder, to ply the contract carriage or to carry the passengers, he shall,—

(a) in the case of two-wheeled or three-wheeled motor vehicles, be 1[liable for a penalty] which may extend to fifty rupees; and

(b) in any other case, be 1[liable for a penalty] which may extend to 4[five hundred rupees].

1 Subs. by Act 8 of 2026, s. 2 and Sch., for sections 177 and 177A (w.e.f. 15-8-2026).

2 Subs. by s. 2 and Sch., ibid., for “punishable with fine” (w.e.f. 15-8-2026).

3 Ins. by s. 2 and Sch., ibid. (w.e.f. 15-8-2026).

4 Subs. by Act 32 of 2019, s. 60, for “two hundred rupees” (w.e.f. 1-9-2019).

Section 178 of The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is reproduced in full above, as printed by India Code, with its footnotes and amendment markers. Read the whole Act, or browse every Act on Mera Samvidhaan.