₹34k cr in e-challans yet to be paid by violators

NEW DELHI: Over 60% of e-challans issued so far, with a cumulative penalty of around Rs 34,200 crore, for violation of traffic and transport rules remain unpaid across states, as per latest govt data, signalling the need for quick reforms to improve enforcement and address grievances.

The nature of e-challans issued across states show that while 81% of them were for violation of traffic rules, the remaining 19% concerned flouting of transport-related norms. In a written reply to a Parliament question, the road transport ministry has said that till July 27, around Rs 20,000 crore (out of the total Rs 54,360 crore) has been collected as fines against the e-challans issued.

Police and transport departments in just five states - Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana and Delhi - have issued over 20 crore challans to violators, more than 50% of all challans issued across the country.

"This indicates that e-challaning is yet to pick up across several states. There has been a significant increase in electronic enforcement in the past couple of years as more cities are going for CCTV surveillance. Also, there is now a focus on ensuring that due procedures are followed by law enforcement agencies while issuing challans," said a govt official. In fact, data show that while in the past one year, around 9.2 crore e-challans were issued across states and UTs with a cumulative penalty of Rs 16,662 crore, the enforcement agencies recovered only Rs 3,447 crore from violators.

Considering the high pendency of e-challans on account of several factor, the road transport ministry has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to states and UTs specifying the norms to be followed.

High pendency of E-challans

* Total challans issued since jan 2015: 36.2 cr
* Total challan amount: Rs 54,360 cr
* Challans disposed of: 13.8 cr
* Revenue collected: Rs 20,152 cr
* Challans sent to court: 9.9 cr
* Challans disposed of in courts: 1.5 cr

Top 5 states (booked challans)

Tamil Nadu: 7.3 cr
Uttar Pradesh: 7.1 cr
Kerala: 3.6 cr
Haryana: 1.8 cr
Delhi: 1.4 cr