Traffic rule violators now need not physically appear before the jurisdictional courts in Bengaluru to plead guilty to minor offences and pay the meagre fine after the police report the violation to the court. They can simply log in to a virtual court 24x7 from any remote location and seek closure of the case by admitting the violation and paying the prescribed fine through the online payment gateway integrated to the virtual court system.
This is among the six e-services launched by the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday to speed up justice delivery system using technology. Filing of cases in petitions in electronic mode in the High Court and all the district courts, online application system for receiving certified copies of orders, payment of court fee and other charges, and a dedicated website for commercial courts in the State are the other e-services.
Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, SC judge and chairperson of e-courts committee, who launched the e-services, said that similar courts in Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Kochi, and Faridabad helped dispose of 15.19 lakh traffic cases as only 49,000 violators chose to contest the violations.
He said e-seva kendras would be set up in all 3,300 district court complexes in the country to facilitate lawyers and litigants like autorickshaw, truck or cab drivers, who have no facility or knowledge to access virtual courts for traffic offences. One regular court was sufficient to deal with cases of six courts for traffic offences in Bengaluru, he added. Justice Chandrachud said the apex court’s e-committee had prepared training module for various stakeholders, including members of the Bar, in 22 languages on use of technology.
Justice Aravind Kumar, HC judge and chairperson of the court’s computer committee, said cases can be disposed of in a few minutes to a few hours through the virtual court as against months to years before regular courts.
He also said that the violators and the judge will never come to face to face in cases of violators accepting the offence and paying the fine through virtual courts resulting in saving valuable time of all stake holders besides reducing footfall to the courts.
Virtual court can be accessed through vcourts.gov.in
