Sri Lanka Police say disciplinary action will be taken against traffic officers who fail to facilitate payments through the GovPay system for on-the-spot traffic fines.
Deputy Inspector General W.P.J. Senadheera said the GovPay system was introduced in April 2025 to reduce inconvenience for motorists and cut the time and economic cost of settling fines. “Previously, motorists had to waste considerable time to settle traffic fines. The GovPay system was introduced to avoid this inconvenience,” he said.
The awareness programme and rollout were completed across all nine provinces by January, and nearly 4,000 mobile phones were issued to police stations through LankaPay to support the service. Despite this, the DIG said only about 12% of eligible traffic fines are currently being settled through GovPay.
Police have received complaints that some officers refuse motorists’ requests to pay via GovPay and instead direct them to visit police stations. “When we investigated these complaints, we found that some officers had failed to carry the devices provided to them, while others were displaying inefficiency and attitude-related issues,” Senadheera said. “If an officer claims they are unaware of the system or that the facility is unavailable, it amounts to neglect of duty and a disciplinary violation.”
The Inspector General of Police has already issued a circular reminding divisions about the system, and police have asked the public to report non-compliant officers on the hotline 070 4756600.
The push to enforce uptake follows the wider rollout of GovPay, which was recently extended to digital payments across local-government bodies, and comes amid a broader drive to modernise traffic enforcement and number-plate compliance.
