Delhi HC seeks Centre, AAP govt reply on plea to refund over speeding challans issued wrongly

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought response of the Centre and the AAP government on a plea seeking refund of challans issued for overspeeding on National Highway-24 between August and October 10, to those who were driving below the permissible 70 km per hour limit.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi government on a petition.

The plea which said the challans were being issued by the police department due to the state's irregularity in putting up the board which showed that the speed limit was 70-km per hour, whereas challans were being issued on crossing the speed of 60 km per hour.

Petitioner Pawan Prakash Pathak said on October 15, the Delhi Traffic Police issued a statement that they have decided to withdraw about 1.5 lakh challans issued mostly to those who were found overspeeding on NH-24 from August to October 10.

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

The petition sought direction for refund of excessive amount of money charged by the state due to default device installed by the state on the roads and other devices for surveillance and also to direct the police authorities not to use force upon the citizens without taking due course available under the law.

The plea also sought constitution of a committee under the Delhi road safety policy to undertake the investigation of road accidents to scientifically probe the cause for it and determine the remedial measures.