Adalats may handle helmet cases

But not before he has made numerous trips to the police station in the exercise to get back his RC book impounded by the traffic police. 

Venkatesan, who works with a leading newspaper house in the city has been visiting the Mylapore police station for more than six times for the last one month to get back the original RC book of his motorcycle back. 

Senior police sources said in order due to manage the crisis situation, the authorities are planning to use Lok Adalats to handle the helmet rule violation cases. “Magistrate courts may not be able to dispose them off completely in a time bound manner. So they are planning to use Lok Adalats to clear these cases faster,” a senior police official added. 

Venkatesan was booked for helmetless travel by the Mylapore traffic police on January 8 and the traffic cop had impounded his original RC, which is now mandatory as per a court order. He can get his original document released only after appearing before a magistrate court with a new helmet, pay the fine and submit before the court that he would not violate the rule again. Like Venkatesan, several hundreds of motorists are making several visits to the police stations across the city with the same demand and for many, the ordeals last for several months. 

“The cases are piling up at the courts and the courts do not have the resources to dispose of all these cases without delay. There are around 1000 cases booked in the city for helmet rule violation on a day and the pile-up is huge,” a senior police official said.