Got a challan? Hire a Tout

Middlemen halve traffic fines outside Saket court. Midday catches them on cameraDelhi's love for bending road rules is infamous. We can do magic: A tout takes a look at the photocopy of a traffic offender's challanSo what does the traffic cop do? Issue challans. And what does the Delhiite do with the challan? He visits the nearest court where the fine can be paid and dutifully hands the challan over to touts, who make sure the offender has to pay only half the sum. The guilty saves money, the government loses crores and road rage continues.Reportedly, the traffic police and court employees, including lawyers, are involved in the racket.Caught red-handedIn an undercover sting operation, MiD DAY found out how touts help offenders recover vehicle documents impounded by the traffic police at a much lesser sum than the original fine amount outside the Saket Traffic Court in south Delhi. The MiD DAY reporter arrived at the Saket Court with a copy of a challan issued on May 6. The violator was supposed to be present in the court on June 6. The pink slip was issued for violation of Section 179 and 129/177 of the Motor Vehicle Act. Two-wheeler riders are challaned under Section 179 for disobeying lawful directions and 129/177 for riding without helmet.Under the first Section, a fine of up to Rs 1,000 is levied whereas in the second Section, the fine amounts to Rs 100. The vehicle's registration certificate is impounded till the fine is paid. Touts take over His companion points at an original document outside the Saket Court complex in New DelhiThe moment the reporter entered the court premises, he was surrounded by a group of touts. The challan was presented to one of them who identified himself as SP Tripathi.After a quick look at the challan, the tout started explaining the rules. If you follow the law, you will have to pay around Rs 1,200. And since you are so late (about two months), the amount goes up further. However, we will manage everything. You just need to pay Rs 600 and you will get back your vehicle documents, Tripathi said, as he walked to the court room with the slip. Meanwhile, Tripathi's colleague explained the 'tough' job they have on hand. It is not as easy as it used to be earlier. Many court staffers were transferred in September. And as most of the work is done by them, getting the impounded documents out has become tricky. We simply hand over the challan to the person sitting in the court. He takes out the court copy of the challan from the official file and hands it back to us, said the man, who refused to divulge his name. He also explained the profit sharing ratio between touts and court employees. There is nothing fixed. The money varies from case to case. We need to negotiate. Generally, the ratio is 50:50. But when the fine amount is high, the ratio changes. The court officials demand a higher percentage, he said.After a few minutes Tripathi returned and asked the reporter to wait a little longer. Later, the reporter was asked to return the next day as 'the keys of the locker where the file was kept was with another person. And the person would come only the next day.'Cops silentMeanwhile, traffic officials refused to speak about the issue. When Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) SN Shrivastava was contacted, he did not respond to either phone calls or messages.When MiD DAY contacted Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander, he too refused to comment, saying he was 'not authorised to speak to the media'. Here you get it cheap: A video grab of the Saket Traffic CourtLegal angleLokesh Kumar, a senior lawyer handling cases under the Motor Vehicles Act, said, Touts sitting outside the traffic court are specially appointed by the lawyers inside. They have a verbal agreement between them about profit sharing as well. These touts hand over the challan to the lawyer who gets the work done. There is no proper record maintained and the judges are so busy that they can't keep a check on everything. If within six months the case is not produced before a magistrate, it automatically goes to the record room, said Kumar.The Other SideJoint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) SN Shrivastava did not respond to phone calls or messages while Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander refused to comment, saying he was not authorised to speak to the media