The minimum penalty on traffic offences will be increased to Rs. 2,500, the Finance Minister said presenting the Budget 2017 in Parliament.
He said most of the accidents are results of traffic violations and therefore proposed to revise the penalties.
The Finance minister added that a new ‘filing’ fee will be imposed when filing a Court case by any person in any Court.
In his budget speech, the minister said high volume of cases pending before the Courts is an overriding problem in the entire court system. “Excessive caseloads cause delays in processing cases and deny the justice.
And it causes a heavy burden to the government” he added. To address the overload of cases in the Magistrate Courts, the minister proposed to amend the Motor Traffic Law to impose spot fine on offences. “A system would be introduced for the errant motorists to pay their traffic fines through mobile phones,” the budget report said. Meanwhile, an Annual License Fee of Rs 20,000 imposed on firearms. Firearms which are used for agricultural purposes are excluded from this fee. Any person who uses firearms without obtaining or renewing such license will be charged of Rs. 5 million as a penalty.
