Mumbai: Even though the Bombay High Court expressed its satisfaction with the steps taken by the Mumbai Traffic Police to bring down the number of cases wherein its officers are accused of demanding bribes, it posed a tough question before the city police on Wednesday seeking to know if the department needs to take stringent action against its errant officers.
The question was posed by a Division Bench of Justice Rajendra Savant and Justice SadhanaJadhav in response to the submission of the traffic department that it has transferred nearly 13 of its officers, accused of demanding bribes, to the multimedia department.
Justice Savant said, “The traffic department should consider whether merely transferring of errant officers is enough to bring down the corruption cases. The department should clarify if stringent action is required against such officers.” The judges were hearing a PIL filed by Sunil Toke, a former constable, who highlighted the rampant corruption in the city’s traffic department. The petition claims that the state government has been losing of crores of rupees due to this corrupt practice.
Earlier, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) had filed an affidavit giving a clean chit to the department and had said no case is made out against any officer. On Wednesday, public prosecutor PrajaktaShinde submitted a copy of the affidavit filed by Amitesh Kumar, the Joint Commissioner of Traffic police. The affidavit spelt out the steps taken by the department to cut down the rising corruption cases.
The list of steps undertaken includes the creation of an email id wherein citizens can directly lodge their complaints against the traffic cops. It also highlighted the 5,000 CCTVs installed at various nooks and corners in the city to keep a track on the activities of the cops, who are deployed on major traffic intersections. The affidavit also mentioned that nearly 900 e-challan machines are been given to officers to collect the fines and that this has paved ways for digital payment of fines, resultantly decreasing the chances of bribes.
The affidavit also said the traffic department has come up with body cameras. The matter is posted for further hearing after eight weeks and directed for wide publicity of the measures.
