5 commercial vehicles have 3,200 pending challans: Data

According to the list compiled by traffic police, 2,330 commercial vehicles have 50-60 pending challans as on March 21.

The Delhi Traffic Police has compiled a list of commercial vehicles with the most pending challans registered against them, with the top five alone accounting for a whopping 3,200 unpaid fines and owing the government a cumulative ₹75 lakh, officers said on Sunday.

Of the top five violators, four are from NCR towns. (HT Photo)

The list of repeat violators was prepared by the Delhi Traffic Police last month. However, officers said their hands are tied — they cannot cancel the licence of a person who has been challaned only for minor traffic offences, nor can they impound that person’s vehicle. Thus, they said, the list will likely be shared with the concerned state transport department so that action can be taken against them, including the revocation of their licence and/or permit to operate.

A wide array of vehicles qualifies for the “commercial” tag in Delhi — cabs, autorickshaws, buses, trucks, and other light, medium and heavy goods carrying vehicles — approximately 1.25 million such vehicles are registered in the Capital, while tens of thousands enter the city from neighbouring states every day.

According to the list compiled by traffic police, 2,330 commercial vehicles have 50-60 pending challans as on March 21. A whopping 424,849 commercial vehicles have three or more pending challans.

HT has seen a copy of the list.

Of the top five violators, four are from the neighbouring towns within the National Capital Region (NCR) — Iqbal Khan from Faridabad (856 unpaid challans), Abhishek Sikarwar from Indirapuram, Ghaziabad (642), Suresh Dixit from Baghpat (597), and Rajendra Prasad Sharma from Faridabad (532). Only one of the violators in the top five is from Delhi — Rohit Kumar Mishra from Malviya Nagar, with 572 unpaid challans.

Traffic police said Khan owns a Hyundai Xcent cab registered in 2019, and of the 856 pending challans against the car, 807 are for speeding violations alone. The estimated value of the challans pending against Khan’s cab is around ₹17 lakh — much more than the value of the car itself, which has an ex-showroom price starting from ₹5.81 lakh.

Second on the list is Sikarwar from Indirapuram, who owns a Maruti Suzuki Dzire Tour cab, and 565 of his 642 pending traffic challans and speed violations.

“These vehicles can continue to operate on the roads as most of his challans were registered online, and were sent to traffic courts as per the rules. The traffic police’s enforcement teams cannot seize his vehicle on account of the pending challans. As per the rules, our teams can only impound vehicles in certain serious traffic violations such as dangerous driving or drunken driving during their on-the-spot checks,” additional commissioner of police (traffic) Dinesh Kumar Gupta said.

Another senior traffic police officer said even if someone in the list of top five violators decides to clear his challans, he would need at least half a year even if he were to visit the court every day — as per rules, a person can only settle five traffic challans at a time.

“It’s highly unlikely that the five vehicle owners would take so much pain to settle the pending challans. The only time the pending challans would trouble them is when they attempt to sell their used vehicles, or get them scrapped at authorised scrapping facilities. As of now, there are no strict punishments or provisions under which such repeat traffic violators can be put off the roads,” the officer said, declining to be named.

HT attempted to reach out to the top five violators.

The number registered with Khan’s car belonged to Ram Niwas, a former employee of the car showroom from where the vehicle was purchased in 2019. Sikarwar, Dixit, and Mishra were not available for comment.

Sharma said he does not drive his vehicle himself, and has instead hired a driver to use it as a cab. He also claimed that he was unaware of the pending challans.