Traffic challans in Delhi fell by over 35% since new Motor Vehicles Act implemented in 2019, data shows
New Delhi: The number of prosecutions in cases of traffic violations on Delhi roads has fallen by 35.6% since the implementation of the New Motor Vehicles Act last September. From September to December last year, total prosecutions by the Delhi Traffic Police were 7.15 lakh, against 20.08 lakh and 20.28 lakh, between the same months in 2018 and 2017, respectively.
A senior officer of the Delhi Traffic Police said that the decline in number of prosecutions is because the city traffic department has not been given compounding powers under the New Motor Vehicles Act, as a result of which all cases are being sent to courts, increasing their burden and at the same time affecting enforcement.
Experts say that weak enforcement can lead to more indiscipline on the roads, thereby resulting in more accidents and even fatalities. According to data accessed by HT, in the month of January 2019, before the new Act was enforced, the total number of prosecutions were 4,86,668. After this there was a steady rise in numbers until August, when prosecution figures reached 6,28,653. However, soon after the New Motor Vehicles Act came into force on September 1, 2019, the total number of prosecutions, in the month of September alone, were reduced to 1,75,469. The same in the month of October were recorded at 1,87,295, and 1,66,272 in November and at 1,86,783 in December, 2019.
A comparison of the past year with previous ones shows that at 54,72,427, 2019 recorded 12.32 lakh lesser prosecutions than 2018, when the figure was 67,04,560. In 2017, the total number of prosecutions by the Delhi Traffic Police was 62,87,486, the data shows.
Explaining the reason for the steep decline, a senior traffic police officer, who asked not to be named, said, “With the introduction of the New Motor Vehicles Act, 2019, all state governments were required to come out with notifications authorising their respective traffic police departments with compounding powers. These powers authorize a traffic policeman to collect fines from the violator at the spot. However, as of now in Delhi, the traffic police do not have any compounding powers,” the officer said.
He said that as a result all challans are required to be sent to courts. “This has increased by many folds the paper work required of a traffic cop, which also affects surveillance work,” he said.
Another officer from the department said, “With the compounding power before the New Motor Vehicles Act, 2019, we were issuing at least 16,000 to 20,000 challans every day at an average. About 95% of these were paid up front by violators on the spot and the rest were sent to courts following any dispute. Now, the number of penalties issued daily by us has been reduced to 5,800 to 6,200, at an average because work load has increased. Enforcement is less, leading to lesser prosecutions,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.
According to former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, such a low number of prosecutions can directly affect road safety in the national capital. “Lesser enforcement means more indiscipline on roads. This leads to increased chances of accidents which may result in even more fatalities. I see no reason behind compounding powers being kept from traffic officials by the state government under the new law,” he said.
Delhi government is yet to notify the list of compoundable offences under the new Act and is in the process of consulting legal experts. A senior official in Delhi’s transport department, said, “We are assessing all legal options. While the chief minister has himself acknowledged on several occasions that the amended law has visibly helped discipline traffic on roads, he however maintains that he is open to the option of holding discussions with stakeholders on whether the increased penalty amounts are causing hardships. Cases with merit will be considered for assessment.”