Thiruvananthapuram: You will no longer be able to go scot-free after committing a traffic violation in Kerala. What's more, the charge sheet and the verdict will be instant.
When caught after a violation, you will have the option of paying the fine through e-challan. If you don’t have enough cash, you can use a card. To enable card payment, 100 enforcement vehicles of the Motor Vehicles Department have been provided with Android-based point of sale (PoS) devices.
But what if you don’t have a card either? Then you can make the payment online later. But pay you must.
But if you try to act smart, a charge sheet with details of the violation will be instantly generated and an e-court will immediately issue a verdict. All in a matter of minutes.
This will be made possible by a mobile application that vehicle inspectors can use to initiate legal actions.
Since the app will be linked to the Union government’s centralised database of Vahan (which has information on vehicle registrations) and Sarathi (driver information), the details of any vehicle breaking traffic rules can be obtained instantly.
The charge sheet and the penalty can then be sent to the registered owner’s mobile number.
The inspector will also get the details of the previous violations related to the registration number and the driver’s licence concerned.
At the same time, a picture of the violation will be transmitted to court online. If the fine is not paid, the vehicle will be blacklisted.
Even if a vehicle does not stop after an offence, an SMS alert will be sent to the mobile number concerned with details of the offence and the penalty to be paid. The traffic police will also immediately switch to e-challan.
e-court and e-summons
With the e-court (virtual court) system getting introduced at the high court from Monday, the verdict on traffic cases will also be delivered within minutes. That's because Kerala’s Motor Vehicles Department is the first to be included in the e-court system.
The e-court option has been made available in the mobile application given to the enforcement group of the department.
The details of those refusing to pay the fine and the charge sheet against them will reach the e-court in just a click. The judge will look at the charges and decide on the fine and issue an e-summons to the mobile number of the violator. The fine can then be paid online.
No need to carry licence with you
You don’t have to carry your driving licence and vehicle records with you any longer.
You can digitise the documents with the mParivahan app and you will be issued a QR code. You have to just show the QR code when asked for licence details and vehicle records.
