Fadnavis had flagged gaps in traffic fine recovery | Nagpur News – The Times of India

Nagpur: During the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur a couple of months ago, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had acknowledged that the state lacked an effective mechanism to recover the mounting backlog of unpaid traffic challans.Addressing the Legislative Council during Question Hour, Fadnavis conceded that the existing system was struggling to cope with the sheer volume of violations, particularly those generated through automated surveillance systems. Fadnavis had highlighted systemic shortcomings such as delayed SMS notifications to vehicle owners, confusing and fragmented challan histories, technical enforcement restrictions, and the absence of a structured recovery framework. These gaps, he admitted, had resulted in a massive stockpile of unpaid fines and emboldened habitual offenders.“Lakhs of challans have been generated, but there is no effective collection mechanism,” the chief minister stated, underscoring the administrative limitations in ensuring timely recovery.To address the issue, Fadnavis had announced the formation of a special committee led by a senior IPS officer to draft a comprehensive challan policy. The proposed reforms included stronger recovery mechanisms, potential licence suspension for repeat offenders, linking unpaid fines to FASTag systems, introducing limited-period amnesty schemes to clear legacy dues, and expediting recovery through Lok Adalats.