Drink and Drive Fine in Chennai (2026): Penalty, Licence Loss and Court Process

The drink and drive fine in Chennai is ₹10,000 for a first offence and ₹15,000 for a repeat offence, under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The court can also order jail of up to six months for a first offence, or up to two years for a repeat, with or without the fine.

Chennai police call these "DD cases". An officer cannot settle one for cash at the roadside, and ignoring the notice can end in a court warrant to attach your property.

The DD fine in Chennai is ₹10,000 for a first offence and ₹15,000 for a second or later offence. Both amounts come from Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, as amended in 2019.

The court can impose jail, the fine, or both. Three points are often missed:

• The fine is a fixed amount. The section reads "fine of ten thousand rupees", a fixed figure rather than a ceiling.

• A repeat offence counts whenever it happens. The 2019 amendment omitted the old condition that the repeat must fall within three years.

• There is no lower slab for two-wheelers. Section 185 applies to anyone driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle. A scooter rider faces the same penalty as a car driver.

The legal limit is 30 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, as detected by a breath analyser. That equals 0.03%. The same section covers driving under the influence of a drug to the point of being unable to control the vehicle.

A uniformed police officer with reasonable cause to suspect drink driving can ask you to give breath samples for a breath test. Keep your licence, RC and insurance easy to show. Our guide lists the mandatory vehicle documents for traffic police.

If the device indicates alcohol, the officer may arrest you without a warrant. The same applies if you refuse or fail to give a sample and the officer has reasonable cause to suspect alcohol.

An arrested person can be asked, at the police station, to give a blood sample to a registered medical practitioner. For a Section 185 arrest, the medical examination must happen within two hours, or you must be released from custody.

No, not at the roadside. Section 185 does not appear in the list of offences that can be compounded under Section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act. So an officer cannot settle it for a fee.

In Chennai, pending DD cases have been tracked through the court system. In early 2023, police said violators received SMS intimation from the e-court system, and many did not pay because the fine is ₹10,000. Police then ran call centres at 10 places in the city, where violators could pay through online payment facilities.

By April 2023, police said they had collected about ₹10.49 crore from roughly 10,134 pending DD cases since January. These reports are from 2023, and the process can change. Follow the court name, date and contact details on your own notice or SMS, and ask for a receipt for any payment.

Three separate steps can affect your licence:

1. Seizure. If police have reason to believe you committed a Section 185 offence, they must seize your licence and send it to the licensing authority. You get a temporary acknowledgement, which does not allow you to drive.

2. Licensing authority. After hearing you, it may discharge you or disqualify you for three months for a first offence. For a second or later offence, the licence can be revoked, and the holder's name may be placed in the public domain.

3. Court. On conviction under Section 185, the court must order disqualification of not less than six months.

While a disqualification order runs, the licence ceases to be effective.

Chennai's district court website lists which Metropolitan Magistrate court handles Motor Vehicles Act cases from each police-station limit. The version uploaded in April 2024 splits the city into North Madras and South Madras for traffic cases.

The same list sends "traffic investigation" cases to Saidapet for South Madras and George Town for North Madras. If your DD case came with an accident, that may apply. Treat this table as orientation only. The notice you received names your court and date.

Chennai police warned in 2023 that they would obtain court warrants to attach movable property when DD fines stayed unpaid. By April 2023, 371 such warrants had been issued, and police said other vehicles owned by the offender could also be attached.

Section 188 punishes anyone who abets an offence under Section 184, 185 or 186, with the punishment provided for that offence. The key word is "abets". The section does not say that being a passenger is, by itself, an offence. Whether a pillion rider or passenger is charged depends on the facts of the stop.

A crash can add charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which replaced the IPC. Section 281 covers rash or negligent driving on a public way: up to six months' jail, a ₹1,000 fine, or both.

Section 125 covers acts that endanger life: up to three months or ₹2,500 if no one is hurt. If hurt is caused, it is up to six months or ₹5,000. For grievous hurt, it is up to three years or ₹10,000. If someone dies, police can add Section 105, culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

1. Read the notice or SMS and note the court, date and case number.

2. Keep every paper, including the licence acknowledgement. It is not permission to drive.

3. Do not drive while your licence is seized or disqualified.

4. If a police call centre contacts you, ask which case and court it relates to before you pay.

5. Your paperwork or the court order states whether your vehicle is held and what you need to take it back. Ask the yard for current towing and parking charges in writing.

6. To contest the charge, speak to a criminal lawyer before the hearing.

7. Check for other pending fines in our guide to Chennai traffic fines and updated challan rates.

Sources:

1. Section 185 text, fixed fines, drug limb — Indian Kanoon

2. Section 185(a), 30 mg/100 ml and the "a motor vehicle" wording — Assam Commissionerate of Transport

3. Fixed-amount fine and omitted "three years" condition — S Jain & Attorneys (25 Aug 2026)

4. Section 200 as amended by the 2019 Act — AAP Tax Law

5. Section 202, two-hour medical examination — AdvocateKhoj

6. Section 203, breath tests and arrest — AdvocateKhoj ; Lawgist

7. Section 204, blood specimen — S Jain & Attorneys

8. Section 206(4), licence seizure and acknowledgement — Indian Kanoon

9. Section 19(1A), three-month disqualification or revocation — Lawgist

10. Section 20(2), court disqualification of at least six months — Indian Kanoon

11. Section 23, effect of disqualification — IPC Laws (15 Oct 2024)

12. Section 188, abetment — Sanhita.ai

13. Chennai DD call centres, e-court SMS, online payment, warrants — The News Minute (26 Feb 2023)

14. ₹10.49 crore collected, 371 warrants, other vehicles attachable — DT Next (25 Apr 2023)

15. Chennai Metropolitan Magistrate court jurisdictions — eCourts Chennai District (uploaded April 2024)

16. BNS Section 125 — ApniLaw (17 Aug 2025)

17. BNS Sections 281 and 105 — The Tribune (2025)