Overview
- The amendment to the 2012 rules was published in the Official Gazette and came into force on August 24, 2026, replacing the previous maximum penalty of ₹500 with a fixed ₹1,000 administrative penalty.
- The rules list specific prohibited acts that attract the penalty, including throwing or leaving waste, spitting, urinating, defecating, bathing, cooking, washing clothes or utensils, feeding animals, and defacing property outside designated areas.
- The revised provisions apply across stations, platforms and train coaches to passengers, visitors and authorised hawkers and vendors, who must keep waste bins and use designated disposal points.
- Station managers, station masters, ticket collectors and equivalent Operating Department officers are authorised to collect the penalty on the spot, and failure to pay can lead to production before a competent court that may impose a fine up to ₹2,000.
- Commuter groups and experts say the higher fine may deter some offenders but that lasting change will depend on consistent enforcement, more dustbins, public awareness and better station upkeep.