The Delhi High Court Wednesday said it will hear on Thursday a PIL seeking direction to the government to issue notification empowering officers for compounding traffic violations offences on the spot.
The plea was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar which agreed it to list for hearing on Thursday.
The petition stated that after the September 2019 amendment in Motor Vehicle Act, public is facing difficulty in compounding the challans issued to them for traffic violations as the violators cannot pay the penalty on the spot and they have to approach the court or make online payment on virtual court (traffic) website.
Due to this, the courts have been over-burdened and even the public at large is suffering as they are not able to compound the petty violations at the spot and have to revisit the circles offices for collection of impounded documents even after disposal of challans in virtual court (traffic), the petition filed by advocate Amit Sahni said.
Compounding offences are those for which the violator is allowed to pay the fine on the spot and the driver does not need to visit a court. The violator can pay fine to the designated officials after the states notify them.
The plea added that with the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019, the penalties for traffic violations have been raised multi fold and the Delhi government's transport department has not yet notified the authorised officers and the compounding fee.
The plea has arrayed the Delhi government, Police Commissioner and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as parties.
More From This Section
The plea also raised the issue that virtual court (Traffic) portal www.vcourts.gov.in is not accepting payment of traffic challan above Rs 2,000 through debit cards and it has to be done through credit cards or online banking.
"The auto drivers or other poor strata of people, who are not having any credit card or online banking account are not able to make payment of challan on virtual court (traffic). The problem is due to the issue of merchant discount rates. The MDR Charges are need to borne by the vendor/ respondent no.1(Delhi government) in this case.
"But no clarity is provided by the Delhi government for bearing the MDR charges for payments above Rs 2,000/-. Urgent direction are required in this regard," it said, adding that the charges are being deducted from the violators credit card.
The plea also said the Delhi Traffic Police and State Transport Authority (STA) at the time of challan are impounding documents like driving licence, registration certificate, fitness and permit.
Even if the challan is paid online on the website, violator has to visit the traffic circle for collection of his documents which is causing inconvenience to public, it said.
It added that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued directions for digital locking of documents in VAHAN (RC Database),RATHI (DL Database) instead of physical seizure by police but the same is not complied with and the documents are physically seized by the authorities.
The petitioner said he has already made a representation to the authorities in this regard but action has been taken yet.
The amended Act provides for a penalty of Rs 10,000 fine for not giving way to emergency vehicles and penalties for over-speeding range from Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000.
Penalty for dangerous driving has been increased to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000, while drunken driving under the new law attracts a fine of Rs 10,000.
Driving without insurance is punishable with Rs 2,000 fine, while driving without helmets will attract Rs 1,000 penalty. The fine for not having a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate may go up to Rs 10,000.