A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar and Justice A Bimol, High Court of Manipur on Tuesday directed the registrar general of the High Court to speed up the process for the creation of virtual courts.
The virtual courts are to be manned by Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) to deal with petty traffic violations cases, illegal parking among others under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and also provide for e-challan gateways so that the involvement of police officers in collection of traffic fines can be avoided.
The Public Interest litigation (PIL) filed by RK Joysana against Manipur police personnel for allegedly exercising their powers arbitrary and excessively, thereby imposing fines on the pretext of violation of the lockdown which is highly illegal, the registrar general has been directed to submit details by the division bench.
The registrar general submitted that there are some guidelines or regulations issued by the government in relation to the collection of fines to which the advocate general also sought some time to place matter before the court. The bench has fixed August, 20 to submit his response.
It may be mentioned that the PIL has sought directions for the respondents to return the fines collected from innocent citizens and appropriate direction to respondents, as the police personnel allegedly misused their powers by threatening and harassing people who are alleged of violating the lockdown.
