he city traffic police are all set to transform into a service-oriented organisation, as per Amara Athar, the chief traffic police officer. It includes a switch back to the e-challan system, with help from the Punjab Safe Cities Authority.

The idea is to make the traffic police available for ensuring a smooth flow of traffic on the roads round the clock, she tells TNS.

“Even though it seems the PSCA is dealing with e-challans, it is actually the Lahore traffic police on whose behalf the e-challans are issued,” she adds. “Indeed, [the] PSCA is helping us in this regard, but it is the sole prerogative of the traffic police to send e-challans and claim fines from the violators. That’s why a large number of [traffic] staff is stationed at the head office of the PSCA.”

She says, “Currently, e-challans are being issued on five kinds of traffic violations. However, 19 other violations are being added to the list.”

The CTO vows to make the force more public friendly. She is of the view that issuing challans manually is an extra burden on the traffic wardens which affects their overall performance. “Often, altercations occur when a [traffic] warden stops a violator and issues them a ticket. Such brawls hurt the image of the cops in the eyes of the public.

“Earlier, their performance was judged on the basis of the number of challans they’d end up issuing. But the minute the e-challan system comes into force, their performance will be directly linked to their abilities and capabilities.”

“Earlier, their performance was judged on the basis of the number of challans they’d end up issuing. But the minute the e-challan system comes into force, their performance will be directly linked to their abilities and capabilities,” says CTO Amara Athar.

The CTO urges the public to “recognise how swiftly a traffic warden responds in the event of a road accident in his designated area and provides help.”

She also speaks of the restructuring of congested roads/ junctures being carried out on the directions of the chief minister in order to ensure a smooth flow of traffic in the city. “Our motto is, ‘We are here to help the citizens’,” she says.

It would be interesting to see how the traffic police deal with the Lahore High Court’s earlier verdict with regard to e-challans lacking legal backing. “The e-ticketing system has no sanction of law, so it cannot be sustained,” Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh had stated in his June 2022 judgment on a petition challenging the power of the PSCA to issue e-challans.

The judge had ruled that a traffic offence entails personal liability and the buck can’t be passed on to the vehicle owners unless they were the offenders. He said that every country has its own laws for traffic offences, and in Pakistan, it’s a provincial subject, so here the Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1965 applies.

The judge had noted that e-tickets/ e-challans are issued under Section 116-A of the said Ordinance. Section 116-A empowers the police officer and the person authorised by the provincial government to draw a charge against a person who commits an offence mentioned in the 12^th Schedule. The authorised officer has to prepare Form-J on the spot and deliver three copies thereof to the offender against due acknowledgment, send the fourth copy to the bank, and retain the fifth one for office record.

Meanwhile, the PSCA has begun preparations to resume the e-challan system. As per the officials concerned, the authority’s staff is working to ensure that the CCTV cameras are fully functional. The Authority had given up on e-challans last year after almost 30 percent of its cameras in the city malfunctioned.

Previously, more than 10,000 e-tickets were the order of the day. The company that had installed the system at a cost of billions of rupees was also responsible for the repair and maintenance of the infrastructure.

Ahsan Zia is a print and broadcast journalist