The question is usually asked the wrong way round. There is no provision in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 that requires a police officer to state a ground before signalling a vehicle to stop at a check point, and document checking is treated as part of ordinary enforcement. What the Act does is condition each of the powers that follow the stop. Knowing which condition attaches to which power is worth far more at the roadside than an argument about whether the stop itself was justified.
What you must do
Section 130 requires the driver of a motor vehicle in a public place, on demand by any police officer in uniform, to produce his licence for examination. There is a useful proviso: where the licence has already been submitted to or seized by an officer or authority, the driver may produce the receipt or acknowledgement instead and produce the licence afterwards in the prescribed manner. Sub-section (3) allows a registering authority or an authorised officer of the Motor Vehicles Department to demand the certificate of insurance, and for a transport vehicle the fitness certificate and permit, with fifteen days to submit attested copies if they are not in hand.
Note the two limbs. The licence demand is made by a police officer in uniform. The insurance, fitness and permit demand is made by a registering authority or an authorised Motor Vehicles Department officer. They are different powers with different holders.
Section 132 requires a driver to stop and remain stationary for such reasonable time as may be necessary, not exceeding twenty four hours, when required to do so by a police officer not below the rank of Sub-Inspector in uniform where the vehicle has been involved in an accident to a person, animal or vehicle or in damage to property, and to give his name and address and the owner's name and address to any person affected who demands it and furnishes his own. The rank qualification in that provision is real, and it does not carry over to the ordinary licence check under Section 130.
What follows a stop, and on what condition
- A challan. Most enforcement ends here. The compoundable offences are listed in Section 200 and the amount is set by the applicable State notification. Civil penalty provisions follow their own statutory amounts and procedures. The mechanics are in our note on disputing an e-challan in Bengaluru.
- A breath test. Section 203 requires a police officer in uniform, or an authorised officer of the Motor Vehicles Department, and reasonable cause to suspect an offence under Section 185. It is not a power to test everyone at random for its own sake, and what turns on it is set out in our guide on drunk driving penalties and licence suspension.
- Seizure of a document. Section 206(1) allows seizure of a mark, licence, permit, registration certificate or insurance certificate the officer has reason to believe is a false document. Section 206(2) allows seizure of the licence of a driver charged with an offence who may abscond or avoid service of summons, and Section 206(3) requires a temporary acknowledgement which itself authorises you to drive until the licence is returned or the date on it expires.
- Seizure of the vehicle. Section 207 is limited to a vehicle used in contravention of the driving licence requirement, the minimum age requirement, the registration requirement, or the permit requirement, or in breach of a permit condition on route, area or purpose. The proviso lets the officer seize the certificate of registration instead of the vehicle in several of those cases, which is a fair point to make where a two wheeler is being detained over a licence defect. What to do next is in our note on getting a seized vehicle released in Karnataka.
- Arrest. Section 202(1) permits arrest without warrant of a person who commits an offence under Section 184, 185 or 197 in the officer's presence, and Section 202(2) where a person who has committed an offence under the Act refuses to give his name and address.
What to do at the roadside
- Stop, and give your name and address. Refusing to identify yourself is an independent ground of arrest without warrant.
- Produce the licence. Digital documents on the official application are ordinarily accepted; carry the acknowledgement if the licence is with an authority.
- Note the officer's name, buckle number and the time. Two lines in your phone, written on the spot, are the only contemporaneous record you will ever have.
- Ask for a receipt for anything taken. A licence, a document or the vehicle. An acknowledgement under Section 206(3) is a right, not a courtesy.
- Ask how the amount was calculated. Check the provision, incident date and any applicable notification. Object in writing if either the allegation or the amount is wrong.
Section 179(1) punishes wilfully disobeying a direction lawfully given by a person or authority empowered under the Act to give it, or obstructing such a person in the discharge of his functions, with a civil penalty which may extend to two thousand rupees where no other penalty is provided. A dispute at the roadside about the merits of a stop is the most efficient way of converting one challan into two. Take the challan and dispute it afterwards.