No e-challans against coronavirus warriors: Plea filed in Delhi High Court

A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in Delhi High Court seeking directions to Delhi Traffic Police to waive the e-challans issued against coronavirus warriors, including practising doctors, during the first two phases of lockdown.

The PIL, filed by Indian Medical Association (Dwarka) through advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, sought directions to the respondents for immediately waiving off the penalties imposed in respect of the various alleged traffic violations upon several practising doctors and other coronavirus warriors like health workers, police, defence personnel and bank employees.

The plea said that these people were on essential duties during the lockdown even as traffic routes were blocked, red lights were not functioning and all purported challans were issued by technical gadgets without any specific information fed in respect to the diversions.

The plea, which will come up for hearing on June 15, also sought directions to the respondents for formulating a comprehensive guideline in respect to the display of speed limits signboard at equally distanced and identified places on all roads which should be easily visible to a motorist and for ensuring visible marking of zebra crossings on the road.

It said that all the e-challans had been issued when all the traffic signals were not functioning or were put on auto blinking mode and the alleged traffic violations are without any justified ground and reason.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown all the systems upside down with a lot of emergent guidelines for regulating the movement of people for containing the spread of the coronavirus, the plea said.

"The people doing essential duties cannot be imposed with an e-challans for imaginative violation of traffic rules. Moreover, the traffic lights were programmed to be non-functional with specific signal colour either red or yellow or green or no signals during the lockdown period when several e-challans have been made," the plea said.

"Under the circumstances, it is completely illegal to impose a penalty without any offence on members of petitioner's organisation and health care workers including other corona warriors," it added.

It said that doctors are doing an important job for containing the Covid-19 just as the traffic police and added that the traffic police has engaged in "discriminatory practices" by targeting the essential service providers by penalising them without any application of mind during the lockdown.