Legislation which most of us encounter in our day to day life is the ‘Traffic Law’ or the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. It was recently amended w.e.f. 01.09.2020 and the penalties for the majority of the offences were increased heftily.
The M.V. Act provides for two categories of offences i.e. Compoundable and Non-compoundable offences. Compoundable offences can be compounded at the spot upon payment of compounding fee and the matter comes to end. Whereas the Non-Compoundable offences are sent to the Court for trial. The Compoundable offences are enlisted in section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. For Ex: the offence of over speeding (Sec. 183) is Compoundable offence and whereas the offence of Red-Light Jump (Sec. 184) and Driving under the influence of alcohol (Sec. 185) are Non-Compoundable offences.
As a matter of practice in Delhi city, it is observed that the police may compound the compoundable challan at the spot. In case compounding fees for compoundable challan offence is not paid at the spot, the police do not send it immediately to the Court. Delhi Traffic Police hosts the compoundable challans on its web portal https://www.delhitrafficpolice.nic.in for payment of compounding fee. The Violator gets the SMS containing link of Notice under section 133 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 on his/her registered mobile number in VAHAN database. In the case where the registered owner himself was not the driver, he/she may visit the Delhi Traffic Police web portal and update the details of the person who was driving the vehicle. Thereafter the challan will be issued in the name of the driver. Other objections like Number Plate is incorrect or a vehicle is already stolen etc may also be taken and if found correct the notice under Section 133 motor Vehicle Act, 1988 may be withdrawn and filed. In case the violator pays the compounding fees on the web portal of Delhi Traffic Police the challan is disposed of.
In case of failure of payment, the Delhi Traffic Police after a certain period (tentatively 90 days) sends the compoundable challan to the Traffic web portal of the District Court http://vcourts.gov.in for disposal as per law. Once a compoundable challan is sent the traffic web portal of the court it cannot be paid anymore at the portal of Delhi Traffic Police.
In case of Non-Compoundable challans like Red Light Jump (Sec. 184) and Drink & Drive (Sec. 185) the challans are directly sent to the traffic web portal of the court http://vcourts.gov.in/ and are not hosted on the website of the Delhi Traffic Police.
The Virtual Traffic Court is presided by the Judge in the rank of Metropolitan Magistrate. Currently, the Virtual Traffic Court has jurisdiction over all districts of Delhi. The Court on receipt of Challans conducts the summary proceedings under section 208 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and proposes the fine amount. The violator received an SMS on his/her registered mobile number intimating him about the traffic violation and option to pay the proposed fine amount. The violator/Registered owner of the vehicle needs to visit the web portal http://vcourts.gov.in/ and can search the challan by name, vehicle number, challan number and case number etc. Here the violator has two options i.e. either to contest the challan or to make the payment of fine. In case the fine is paid the challan is disposed of and the payment acknowledgement is generated. The violator may keep the print out of the acknowledgement for his record. The violator may visit the concerned traffic circle and upon production of acknowledgement receipt, he/she may obtain the impounded documents, if any.
In case the option to contest the challan is chosen the next date of hearing and the details of Judge/Court are informed/displayed on the web portal and the violator needs to appear before the Regular Court on that date.
In Regular Court the violator may choose to plead guilty and the Court may dispose of the challan on the same date. In case the violator wants to contest the challan to prove his innocence, that the court may frame the notice and proceed to record prosecution evidence in support of challan.
The Virtual Traffic Court is a golden feather in the Criminal Justice System which is helping in quick dispensation of traffic challans. The citizens can get their challans disposed of without facing any trouble of visiting courts. We are hopeful that in future some more jurisdictions will also be added to the Virtual Court.
