Mumbai Traffic Challan: Portal, Towing, Court & Helplines

Last verified 18 Aug 2026

For the state-wide check and pay steps, official portals, notified fine amounts and dispute process, see the Maharashtra e-Challan guide. This page covers only what is different inside Mumbai city: which office actually issued your challan, how a towed vehicle is traced, where a court challan is heard, and the local contacts.

Which portal actually handles a Mumbai challan?

There is no Mumbai-only payment site. Mumbai Traffic Police challans flow into the same two national/state systems as every other Maharashtra city: mahatrafficechallan.gov.in and the MoRTH NextGen portal. Mumbai Traffic Police runs a separate website, trafficpolicemumbai.maharashtra.gov.in, but it is an administrative site rather than a search engine for challans — it carries the department’s contacts, RTI disclosures, notices, grievance redressal and a “Citizen Corner,” and its own “E-Challan Payment” menu link simply redirects to mahatrafficechallan.gov.in.

That distinction matters for two things this page covers: raising a grievance about how a challan was booked in Mumbai specifically, and reaching the right zone office — both go through trafficpolicemumbai.maharashtra.gov.in, not the payment portal.

How do I get a towed vehicle back in Mumbai?

Mumbai Traffic Police’s own account of the process, published on its Initiative page, is that “whenever any vehicle is towed that time Traffic constable open MTPtow app and fill up the form with all information of that towed vehicle and submit it to Helpline. So that anyone can call Helpline and take information about it.” In practice that means: call the Traffic WhatsApp Helpline, 8454999999, with your vehicle registration number, and the operator looks up which crane crew towed it and where.

There is no published list of fixed tow-yard or pound addresses to check instead — the department documents the helpline call as the route, not a public directory. Towing itself is carried out with what the same page calls “Hydraulic cranes… one of the most powerful & safe means of lifting modern cars… & heavy vehicles from the streets parked in unauthorized areas.”

Camera challans or on-the-spot challans — how is a Mumbai challan actually issued?

Mumbai Traffic Police documents both channels running side by side, not one replacing the other:

• CCTV enforcement: the department describes “integration with various CCTV Surveillance networks including proposed City Surveillance Project and other CCTV apps implemented by various public and private institution,” used for both traffic management and detecting violations.
• On-the-spot Electronic Challan: hand-held machines issue a “spot traffic ticket… for a violation of MV Act and/or Traffic regulation rules,” with a formal printed receipt handed over at the time.

Neither the CCTV list nor the deployment pattern for hand-held machines is published down to specific junctions or routes, so if you want to know why a particular challan was booked, the Challan Print on the payment portal — not this page — is what shows whether it carries photographic evidence.

Where is a Mumbai traffic challan heard if it reaches court?

Most Mumbai challans that go past the payment portal do not have an online court route. Virtual Courts (vcourts.gov.in) lists only two Maharashtra departments statewide — Maharashtra (Transport Department) and Maharashtra (Nashik Traffic Department) — so Mumbai city traffic police challans referred to court are not on that platform at all. In practice that means the case is heard before the jurisdictional metropolitan magistrate, and the accused (or a lawyer on their behalf) has to appear in person; there is no “pay online” or “contest online” button for it.

For settlement outside a full trial, National Lok Adalat sittings apply in Mumbai on the same statewide calendar as the rest of Maharashtra — 14 March, 9 May, 12 September and 12 December 2026 — and only compoundable offences can be taken up. The sittings themselves are organised under the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority (MSLSA), headquartered at 3rd Floor, MTNL Fountain Telecom Building No. 1, Near Bombay High Court, Mumbai 400001 (phone 022-22691395, legalservices.maharashtra.gov.in). Unlike Delhi, Mumbai has no published online token-booking portal for a Lok Adalat slot — MSLSA and the court where your case is listed are the official contacts for that sitting’s local venue and date. See e-Challan Lok Adalat for how the process itself works once you are at the sitting.

Mumbai Traffic Police contacts

• WhatsApp Helpline: 8454999999 — towed vehicles and general queries.
• Twitter/X: @MTPHereToHelp
• Zone offices (for grievances tied to a specific area): Mumbai Traffic Police is split into four Deputy Commissioner zones — East, South, West, and HQ & Central — each with its own office under Mumbai Traffic Police Headquarters, Sir Pochkhanwala Road, Worli, Mumbai 400030. The full list of zone and division addresses and direct numbers is published on the department’s Contact page.
• MSLSA (Lok Adalat queries): 022-22691395, legalservices.maharashtra.gov.in.

For everything else — checking a challan, paying it, notified fine amounts, and disputing one — go to the Maharashtra e-Challan guide, the fines list, or disputing a wrong e-challan.

TrafficChallan.com is an independent information website, not affiliated with any government body. Challan payments happen only on official government portals we link to.