BHUBANESWAR : The Odisha government issued notification on the one-time settlement scheme to allow traffic law violators a window of six months to settle their penalties issued via e-challans.
As per the notification issued by the Commerce and Transport department, offences committed on or before July 31 this year and punishable under the Motor Vehicles Act may be compounded on payment of the compounding fee.
The initiative will provide a one-time opportunity for violators to close their e-challans by paying the half of the fine amount. However, the challans of which the prosecution reports have been submitted to the designated courts will not come under the purview of this scheme.
Challans issued under section 180 for allowing individuals to drive without valid/proper driving licence and section 181 for driving without valid driving license can be settled by paying Rs 2,500 for each offence instead of Rs 5,000. Similarly, challans issued for triple riding or driving without helmets can be cleared by paying Rs 500 for each offence.
Official sources said about 59 lakh e-challans were issued till July 31. Of them, about 31 lakh e-challans were pending at the regional transport officer (RTO) levels. Another 18 lakh e-challans are under process in the courts. The remaining 10 lakh have been disposed of.