The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Wednesday challenged in the Sindh High Court (SHC) the issuance of e-challans in Karachi, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Advocate Usman Farooq, counsel for the petitioner, said that e-challans were issued to the owners of vehicles over the violation of traffic rules with the help of images obtained from CCTV cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) regardless of the fact who was driving the vehicle at the time of violation of the rule.
He further said that these challans were issued without taking into account the city’s poor road infrastructure and the absence of road signs.
He argued that an increase in challan fees by thousand times, suspension of licenses and blocking of the computerized national identity cards (CNICs) were all illegal.
The lawyer went on to say that the Excise Department record contained the names of previous owners of these vehicles, adding that the transfers of vehicles to new owners were not registered by the department on time due to corruption.
He told the court that neither there were zebra crossings on the city’s roads nor signboards mentioning speed limits.
Furthermore, Advocate Usman said that roads in the city were in a dilapidated condition due to which motorists had to opt for alternate routes. “The condition of Karimabad Underpass, Jahangir Road, New Karachi Road and other roads is pathetic,” he said, adding, “In view of all these facts, the issuance of e-challans and the imposition of heavy fines are discriminatory.”
The lawyer informed the court that in Karachi, Rs5,000 fine was imposed on the people driving motorcycles at a fast speed while in Lahore, such bike riders are fined only Rs200. “The purpose of e-challans is only to collect revenue,” Advocate Usman said, adding, “Most of the people in the city use bikes to commute from one place to another due to the absence of a proper transport system in the city. This thing should also be borne in mind that how a person, earning Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 per month, could afford to pay heavy fines.”
The lawyer prayed to the court to suspend challans and fines.
He also requested the court to declare AI-based challan system illegal, especially when the city does not have proper road infrastructure besides declaring that heavy fines were a discrimination against Karachiites.
Reporter: Mumtaz Jamali