Pay e-Challans Or Get Your Driving License Suspended: Indian Govt

E-Challans play key roles in enforcing traffic and road rules in India. Here, every time a person is caught red-handed, violating traffic rules, an electronic challan is issued in his name, asking for penalties to be paid to the authorities. Failing to pay these off, used to land users in legal trouble. The latest reports, however, reveal that many ignore these fines and refrain from paying them. It was recently found out that only 40% of e-challan amounts could be recovered and there has been large-scale non-compliance in many states. Now the government has proposed a draft rule, which intends to suspend the driving licences of people who do not pay traffic e-challans.

As per the proposed draft, one will have to pay the traffic challans off within three months of them being issued, to avoid trouble. The e-challan system has minimized the delay in a violator receiving his challan. Thus, it wouldn't be too difficult for the authorities to implement the changes put forward by the new draft.

Government's New Draft Rules: What Do They Say About Traffic Penalties?

Under the new rule, non-compliant drivers will face strict action from authorities. If they fail to pay their traffic e-challan (fine) amount within three months, the law enforcement agencies will suspend their Driving Licences (DL) for specific periods.

Those drivers who receive more than three challans- for jumping signals and dangerous driving in a financial year, could get their licenses confiscated for at least three months. These moves are expected to make more people pay fines within the ideal timeframe and in the long run, bring down violation counts.

According to sources, the government also has plans to link these e-challans to vehicle insurance. If this gets implemented, drivers with two or more pending challans from the previous financial year will have to pay a higher insurance premium in the one that follows.

The honourable Supreme Court had recently directed 23 states and seven Union Territories to file compliance reports showing the efficiency and implementation of electronic monitoring as provided in the Central Motor Vehicles Act (CMVA).

Section 136A of CMVA talks about the deployment of advanced technologies like speed and CCTV cameras, body-worn cameras, speed guns, and automatic number plate detection systems to ensure compliance with traffic and lane laws. These are also critical in ensuring better management of roads and traffic.

Traffic E-Challans Aren't Bothered About In Many Places!

Reports say that some Indian states have extremely low rates of recovery of traffic fines. In Delhi, for instance, the recovery rate is just 14%. It is closely followed by Karnataka with its 21% and Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh (UP) with their 27 per cents. Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana have the highest recovery rates, at 62-76%.

Sources say that there are a number of reasons behind people hesitating to pay traffic fines. An important one is late alerts from the system and faulty challans. The government seems to be working towards getting these fixed.

The Indian government could soon roll out a more comprehensive standard operating procedure (SoP) for the same. This would clearly mention the minimum specifications for cameras and devise ways to ensure that notifications and follow-up reminders about pending challans are sent to owners repeatedly, till the payment is made.

The drive to improve road safety is something that India as a nation has been actively undertaking in recent times. Many states have been running campaigns to raise awareness and enforce better compliance to traffic rules among drivers and riders. Kerala, for example, has implemented a new driving test for the licensing process.

The new test is more comprehensive than it's ever been and requires the applicants to hone their skills and responsibility better. With these, the South Indian state’s Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) hopes to have better skilled and more responsible drivers on the roads.

Source: TOI/ ET