Chandigarh: Despite virtual court, thousands still lining up to settle traffic challans

A year after Chandigarh introduced its first virtual court for settling traffic challans online, thousands of violators continue to flock to the District Courts Complex in Sector 43.
Despite the launch of the website “https://vcourts.gov.in” to facilitate online payment and remove the need for in-person visits, the court is overwhelmed by the rising number of e-challans, largely due to the city’s extensive CCTV network.
During the National Lok Adalat on Saturday, long queues formed as thousands waited for hours to settle their traffic violations. The day saw 7,745 traffic challans being resolved, amounting to a total fine of ₹37.20 lakh, the highest among all settled cases.
Facilitated by the wide CCTV network, daily, hundreds of e-challans for traffic violations are issued by the Chandigarh Police and their burden falls on regular courts. Hoping for a lower fine, many turn to Lok Adalat, leading to long queues.
For the National Lok Adalat on Saturday, 21 benches, headed by serving judicial officers, were constituted. Apart from traffic challans, criminal compoundable cases, those under Section 138 of NI Act, bank recovery cases, MACT cases, matrimonial disputes, labour disputes, arbitration matters, other civil cases and municipal matters were taken up and disposed of with the consent of the parties.
In all, 2,940 cases were disposed of, including two MACT cases with compensation involving ₹54.5 lakh and ₹37 lakh being awarded to the dependents of two deceased accident victims.
Similarly, a total of 14,925 cases were settled at the National Lok Adalat in Mohali and 9,533 cases in Panchkula.