Bengaluru
After the Karnataka transport department announced a 50% rebate on paying fines for pending traffic challans in the state, citizens can soon expect to pay fines through insurance firms, Special Commissioner of Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) M A Saleem said, adding that a notification in this regard will be issued after an amendment by the transport department.
Saleem said the Bengaluru traffic police is currently working on disposing old cases and as a result, as a one-time measure, the state government announced a 50% rebate in fines in e-challan cases registered by traffic police across Karnataka if settled by February 11.
Explaining how 100% compliance regarding challans can be achieved, Saleem said, “For transport or yellow board vehicles, every year, fitness certification is mandatory. Now, whenever vehicles go for fitness certification to RTO offices, we put up traffic police in the RTO office itself, and collect fines. This is how, fines are collected for yellow board vehicles and the cases are disposed off 100%.”
“Similarly, for white-board personal vehicles, every year, the insurance renewal is mandatory. So, there also, we have asked the transport department to bring a notification that the insurance renewal should be linked to clearing of all the cases,” Saleem added.
Saleem said that the transport department has to bring in an amendment regarding partnering with insurance companies to collect fines, and issue a notification in this regard. “We can expect it very soon. As a prelude to that, we are disposing off the old cases through this 50% rebate.”
“We want to ensure that all these old cases are disposed off. That is why the Karnataka Legal Services Authority has recommended to the government regarding the 50% fines so that they can close these cases. That is the reason the government has issued a notification. Based on the notification, people are coming forward and paying up the pending fines,” Saleem said.
The state transport department as a one-time measure offered a 50% discount to violators on Thursday, after it held a meeting chaired by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) in January. Saleem said there were over two crore e-challan cases which may total up to a penalty of ₹500 crore in the city, which is over 80% of such cases pending across the state.
The KSLSA had requested the state transport department to take steps at the earliest and report compliance in order to ensure access to justice for all with regard to traffic fines across the cities in Karnataka.
Based on the resolution, the state transport department sent a recommendation to the government to offer a 50% discount on traffic fines in the state. “In the backdrop of the factors outlined in the proposal, for the cases that will be settled before February 11, 2023, a rebate of 50 per cent has been ordered as a one-time measure,” order issued on Thursday read.
People who want to pay the fines for e-challan cases in Bengaluru can visit the nearest traffic police stations or the Traffic Management Centre on Infantry Road in the city. Alternatively, they also can pay the fine through PayTM or Karnataka One website.
