Context: The Gujarat government is in the process of setting up virtual traffic courts in the state under the One Nation, One Challan initiative.

Key Points

• One Nation, One Challan is an initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

• It aims to bring all related agencies, such as the traffic police and the Regional Transport Office (RTO), on one platform, to enable the seamless collection of challans as well as data transfer.

Working

• The system involves the detection of traffic violations through the CCTV network and getting the registration number of the erring vehicle from applications like VAHAN (detecting the vehicle’s ownership details) and SARATHI (compilation of driving licenses). 

• An e-challan is then generated with the relevant penalty amount, and sent to the mobile number linked with the vehicle.

• If someone doesn’t pay the challan amount within 90 days, the challan will be automatically forwarded to a virtual court and proceedings will be initiated. 

Virtual traffic courts

• Virtual courts are aimed at eliminating the presence of litigants in the court. 

• An accused can search their case on the virtual court’s website. Upon successful payment of the fine, the case will be shown as disposed of.