Increasingly, the centre and the state governments are taking steps to make the government processes online, and our transport system is one of the departments which is incorporating the technology at a rapid pace.

-Fastag is already making news these days.

-Now it's mandatory for all commercial vehicles entering Delhi to have Fastag.

-Govt is also preparing for making it mandatory for all the vehicles very soon.

-All new vehicles are already coming with Fastag RFID device pre-installed.

As a law abiding citizen, you must be one of those who are quite sure that you've not violated any traffic rules as you've never been stopped by a traffic cop. But wait, there could have been instances where knowingly, or unknowingly you had violated a traffic rule, and now there are systems in place, which can find you in violation of the Motor Vehicle (MV) Act. But how to know if you've violated a law? If you've been caught violating the MV Act at any point, then what are the options available to settle it down? We have covered it all in this story.

Recently, some residents of Delhi and NCR received an SMS stating their vehicle has been found in violation of the MV Act, whose E-Challan can be viewed on the link provided. To their surprise, when they checked on the provided link, they found an E-Challan with the picture of the vehicle along with the exact date and time of the violation.

Naveen Bansal, a resident of East Delhi, received a similar SMS. Completely unaware of when and where it happened, he opened the E- Challan and found the picture of his car parked outside his workplace in Noida. Although that space is being used for parking by the employees since years now, the reason mentioned in the Challan was that "The car was parked in a dangerous manner" and the fine for the same is Rs 500.

Rahul Malhotra, a resident of Noida, did not receive any SMS, but out of curiosity he tried to check if he's having some challan pending against his Vehicle, and to his surprise, he found two traffic violation challan. One was for driving in the wrong direction, and another for wrong parking. His mobile number wasn't updated with the RTO and hence did not receive any SMS for the same.

Similarly, Raju Khatri, a resident of Noida, didn't receive any SMS intimation but he randomly checked on the website and found a fine of Rs 400 for over-speeding at the speed of 109 km/h. He was then travelling on the Yamuna Expressway towards Agra.

In all the E-challans, concerned sections of the MV Act is mentioned along with a message sharing the statistics of accidents and why driving safely is not just an option but a requirement. Not only this, a link for the payment of the requisite fine is there on the page, from where one can pay the fine directly by online payment methods, which are facilitated by the SBI.

We spoke to the SP Traffic, Noida A K Jha, and according to him almost 60% of the mobile numbers are already updated in the records. Since April 2018, it's mandatory to provide a Mobile number while purchasing a new vehicle, and for vehicles prior to that, the database is being continuously updated as soon as someone pays online challan.

One can also update his mobile number on the Parivahan portal by clicking here.

After landing on the above Vahan Citizen services page, by entering your vehicle registration number, Chassis number and engine number you can enter your mobile number and can validate it with an OTP. Even if the mobile number is not updated in the official records, the challans are being sent by post at the end of each month. If the fine is not settled within 6 months, the case is referred to the court.

In the event of any RTO related task, like while vehicle registration transfer, removal of hypothecation, fitness, NOC etc the pending fine along with the penalty (if any) would have to be settled first.

He further added that from 7th June 2019, amendments have been made to the Uttar Pradesh Motor Vehicles Rules, with revised fine amounts.

If you think that you've never been found violating any traffic rules, it's a wise idea to once visit the website by clicking here.

Well, if you get a message "No Challan found" then you are indeed one of the many law abiding citizens and a safe driver.