BHUBANESWAR: In a relief for vehicle owners, the Odisha government has decided to slash the penalty imposed on vehicles for violation of certain traffic rules under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
In a notification issued on Saturday, the Commerce and Transport department has made it clear that the vehicle owners who have been issued challans for using vehicle without permit and driving vehicle exceeding permissible weight till July 31 will have to pay 50 per cent of the penalty after exemption.
The state government has also decided to reduce the penalty amount to settle challans for some specific violation of rules to clear the backlog of pending traffic challans.
Traffic offences punishable under sections 192-A and 194 (1) of the MV Act can be compounded by paying the slashed fine, stated the notification.
As per the revised rates, the defaulters will have to pay Rs 5,000 instead of Rs 10,000 for using a vehicle without permit. Similarly, driving a vehicle exceeding permissible weight will attract a fine of Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 20,000 and Rs 1,000 per tonne of excess load instead of Rs 2,000.
However, the challans in respect of which prosecution reports (PRs) have already been submitted to designated courts will not come under the purview of the reduced penalty category. As a huge backlog of challans is pending across various levels, the state government had recently launched a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme to encourage traffic rule violators to settle the dues.
The defaulters will have to pay 50 per cent of fines for traffic violations committed on or before July 31.
The defaulters will now pay Rs 2,500 for allowing a person to drive the vehicle without valid or proper DL and driving vehicle without valid DL, Rs 5,000 for not providing way for emergency vehicles, Rs 1,000 for plying vehicle without insurance, Rs 500 for driving without helmet, more than one pillion rider on two-wheeler and driver or passenger without seat belt. Of around 59 lakh e-challans issued till July 31, over 31 lakh e-challans were pending at the regional transport officer (RTO) levels.