LHC orders e-challan system improvement

Tickets issued to previous owner of bus quashed

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court’s Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh has declared that the ‘e-challan’ system was launched without proper homework, directing the Punjab chief secretary to bring the lapse to the notice of the chief minister so that he should take immediate steps to rectify the situation.

Justice Saleem was hearing a petition of a transporter who had come to know that around 55 unpaid e-challans had been issued against him, about which he was unaware.

Petitioner Falak Sher implored the court that he was maintaining a fleet of transport vehicles and had employed a team of drivers for operating them.

He purchased a bus on October 28 last year,  which was transferred in his name by the Motor Registration Authority, after which he inducted it into his fleet. On December 10, he learnt from the website of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) that he had been issued an e-ticket and fined Rs750 for an alleged traffic violation committed by his driver on November 16.

He inquired from the PSCA and was told that he was liable to pay the amount because he was the present owner of the vehicle. He was also warned that his bus would be impounded if the fine was not paid immediately.

The petitioner’s counsel told the court that there was no legal sanction for the e-ticketing system. He contended that a traffic offender was personally responsible and his liability could not be passed over to a third person, the owner of the vehicle.

He said the petitioner could not be asked to pay the fine against any of the e-tickets, particularly those issued before he purchased the bus.

The additional advocate general stated that the Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1965 was a special law administered jointly by the home, excise & narcotics control, transport departments and the PSCA.

The law officer said the tckets were validly issued under Section 116-A of the ordinance.

He contended that the fine had to be paid by the driver or owner of vehicle.

Every person intending to purchase a vehicle must check whether there were any outstanding tickets and ensure that were paid before the transaction, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2022.