Delhi Traffic Police have decided to withdraw about one and a half lakh challans issued mostly to those who were found overspeeding on National Highway 24 between August and October 10.

However, there is no clarity on what will happen to the amount taken as fines.

A Joint Commissioner-level traffic police officer, on condition of anonymity, said: “Delhi Traffic Police is withdrawing about 1.5 lakh challans issued in two and a half months between August and October 10. Most of these were related to overspeeding on National Highway 24.”

Another Delhi Traffic Police officer said: “In fact, these challans were issued on National Highway 24 between Nizamuddin bridge and Ghazipur, which is close to Delhi-UP border.”

On being asked about what forced the Delhi Traffic Police to withdraw these challans, an officer said: “The reason behind the withdrawal of these challans was that the PWD had put up a signboard of speed limit of 70 km/hr while the challans were issued for speeding over 60 km/hr on national highway. We decided to take back the challans after receiving a lot of complaints.”

According to a police officer, the Traffic Police had asked the PWD to change the signboard showing 60 km/hr as the speed limit, but they did not do it. Now the cameras along the Highway has been set with 70 km/hr as the maximum speed, the police said.

Another reason for withdrawing the challans could be, according to a senior police officer, that some drivers had decided to approach the court with a public interest litigation as they felt they did not do anything wrong and they are innocent. It would have been an awkward situation for the Traffic Police to defend the indefensible in the court, the officer said.

The Parliament in July passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to tighten road traffic regulations such as the issuance of driving licence and imposed stricter penalties for violations in an attempt to improve road safety.

Under the new law, people not wearing helmets or seat-belts will be fined Rs 1,000, which was Rs 100 earlier, while those driving without a licence can be fined Rs 5,000 or face three-month jail.

The new law allows the central government to order for recall of motor vehicles if a defect in the vehicle may cause damage to the environment, or the driver, or other road users.

Earlier in September, the United Front of Transport Associations (UFTA) — an umbrella body of over 50 unions in Delhi-NCR — had called for a transport strike against the amended Motor Vehicles Act (MVA), 2019.

Within 12 days of the Motor Vehicles Act coming into effect on September 1, Delhi Police had issued over 3,900 challans to traffic rule violators.

(With agency inputs)