Challan

Challan or Chalan is a common Hindi word (चालान, cālān) that has become an Indian English technical word used officially in many professional, especially financial transactions. It usually means an official form or receipt of acknowledgement or other kind of proof document, piece of paperwork, police citation, etc. According to American Merriam-Webster Dictionary "Chalan" means voucher or invoice.[1] Similarly, British-English Dictionary Lexico also defines Challan[2] as noun, "an official form or document, such as a receipt, invoice, or summons", and verb, "issue (someone) with an official notice of a traffic offence" and gives several examples of their applications, which are also paralleled by the Oxford Learner's Dictionary's two separate entries on the same.[3][4] Wiktionary also gives examples of the application of the word challan in southeast Asia, including its use as a verb with challaning and challaned used similarly in context and meaning to police ticketing or someone being ticketed. While most of the dictionaries talk about the meaning representing a monetary penalty which is true in most real cases, Collins English Dictionary goes one step further and defines the verb part of the meaning of Chalan as "verb (transitive), to cause (an accused person) to appear before a magistrate",[5] which in reality happens only in a subset of cases of Challan when a person misses paying the Challan and the matter moves to the next step of receiving a summon from a court.[6]

  1. ^ "merriam-webster". merriam-webster dictionary. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Lexico". Lexico OUP English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Challan 1 (noun)". Oxford Learners Dictionary. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  4. ^ "Challan 2(Verb)". Oxford Learners Dictionary. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Chalan from Collins English Dictionary". Collins English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  6. ^ "What happens if traffic e-challan not paid?". India Today. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.