A 54-year-old taxi driver, Raj Kumar, who had reached Patiala House Courts at 10 a.m. on Saturday was yet to get his traffic penalty receipt from the Information Centre till 2.40 p.m. The centre was going to close for the day in 20 minutes and Kumar, who had taken a day off from work, was still unsure if he would succeed in getting rid of the fine.
The server in the court’s Information Centre was allegedly down for over an hour.
The National Lok Adalat held on Saturday in six district courts across the Capital for payment of pending traffic penalties and notices was marred by systemic problems, including people waiting in queues for hours, complaining of not being able to pay using e-wallets at the time of the challan, lack of infrastructure among others.
‘Setting with staff’
At Karkardooma court, Anuj Tyagi, resident of Yamuna Vihar who works in a cloth export company, had come to pay his fine for parking in a no-parking zone in 2018. He said he hadn’t taken leave from work because he thought he’ll get done with it in an hour or so. “ Yahan aam janta ka koi kaam nahin hota. Sirf jo wakeelon ko paisa dete hain unka hot hai [No work of a common man is done here. Only those who can pay to advocates can get their work done],” he said.
Pointing towards the centre where penalty slips were being issued, to be finally paid before the magistrate, Suraj (26), who had come to pay a fine for a traffic violation in May 2017, said that advocates who have a “setting with staff” are inside the centre with their clients’ files. Ten to 14 cases with one advocate at the rate of ₹12,00 to ₹3,500 are done in no time while those standing in queues are being entertained only once in about 10-15 minutes.
Surinder Pal Singh, a transporter in East Delhi, who had come to pay several penalties issued to drivers of his truck had a different view. “I don’t know how the driver is driving on the roads. They should be punished, preferably not with money but a lesson instead. Why do the vehicle owners need to come and pay fine and stand in queues?” he said. The authorities penalise the truck drivers for parking in no-parking zones but have no infrastructure for the same, he rued. Inside court room number 37, Abdullah stood in another queue to be produced before the magistrate. He had an “important” point to raise.
Cashless economy
Abdullah came to pay a fine for not wearing helmet. He was fined near Gandhi Nagar and did not have cash at that time. He asked the cop if he can pay using Paytm or other ATM card. “The challan machine works on 2G and you are asking for Paytm?” the cop had joked. “When the government talks about cashless economy, why can’t they provide the infrastructure to pay fine using applications? As it is, with higher penalties, people won’t have cash to pay on the spot,” he said.
The courts were not only abuzz with those who had penalties pending for months but also those who were fined under the recently amended Motor Vehicles Act.
Rehaan Qureshi (29), resident of Jaffrabad, said that he was given a bike in dowry in his wedding on August 25. The vehicle was delivered on September 6 and he was fined the next day in Geeta Colony. Facing a fine for over ₹12,000 for offences, including driving without licence and without wearing helmet, the man was clueless about what to do inside the court where he had already come thrice since his challan. And there were many others like him across the district courts.
Court number 212 at the Saket District Court saw a flurry of activity around noon with several autodrivers waiting for their turn to appear before the magistrate. The group of 15 had been waiting since 10 a.m. trying to get the formalities done before one could reach the magistrate’s court.
“We happened to check the Delhi Police mobile app and found several challans against each one of us. We do not even have lawyers and have been trying to speak to others like us and trying to figure out the process,” said Manoj Kumar who was challaned for jumping a red light.
Daunting task
Vishnu Kumar, 48, another auto driver seen leaving the courtroom adds, “Anyway after the new rules kicked in, we had decided to be more cautious while driving. But this entire process of trying to get the challan cleared here looks quite daunting. I paid a fine of ₹600 for the seven challans that I had and it took me almost four hours to get done,”
Jumrani G.R., 65, who almost spent two hours trying to navigate through the long lines before he could appear before the magistrate, said it is “probably easier with a professional around”.
“One spends only a few minutes in front of the magistrate but the amount of time required prior to that is a lot. These are all old challans that were pending for over a year, which I just happened to discover recently and thought will come for the Lok Adalat and get it cleared. However, the process is not quite easy and swift as it sounds and will probably try to engage a professional to get this done next time,” the Lajpat Nagar resident said.
At Tis Hazari Courts, an autodriver who was challaned near Kamla Market on Friday and his vehicle impounded, was forced to make futile visits to different courtrooms for hours.
At the courts, were people in the hope of paying the fines in time amid scorching heat and often, in hallways without fans and water.
