In view of complaints pouring in about faulty e-challans being issued to citizens, the traffic police have written to the RTO telling them that duplicate registration numbers have been found to be a primary source of the problem. Traffic cops have received 432 complaints of faulty e-challans over the past two months alone.

Speaking to mid-day, RTO deputy commissioner, Sandesh Chavan, said, "There is no way the same registration number can be issued for two vehicles, and this is not only for Mumbai but the whole of Maharashtra. Sometimes wrong e-challans get issued due to mistakes in checking the details. Those found using vehicles with duplicate registration numbers are booked for forgery. If the Traffic Police comes across a duplicate registration number, they start inquiries at their level and inform the RTO as well. When the cops get more details about the original and duplicate numbers, they start looking for the offending vehicle."