Despite the cutting down of pending cases following the Supreme Court order, hundreds of cases are pending in the courts with at least a dozen being added onto the list on a daily basis. And all these cases are of course apart from those where on-the-spot fines are collected by the traffic branch.

While officials here, on one hand feel that the fine clamped on offenders is too low to discourage offenders, the increasing number of pending cases in traffic courts indicate that people are not ready to pay even nominal fines, which court officials say, range from Rs 50 to about 150 in case of minor offences.

``Although recovery has risen drastically over the past couple of months, I still feel that the fines being clamped is very low, which is one reason why people even do not care to be present in the traffic court,'' feels a top police official in charge of traffic.

Says head constable of the traffic branch posted at the traffic courtroom, that is packed with people daily, ``On an average, only 25 cases are solved with people agreeing to pay fines. All the rest are either given another date or listed under the pending cases.''

Also, with the police stepping up its drive against offenders the number of cases are also increasing. While few pay on-the-spot fines, others who do not do so are issued a memo and their licences are impounded. The licence is returned after the offender pays the fine in the court.

While only the driving licences of vehicles is impounded in cases of minor offences, the traffic branch also seizes the vehicles if registration papers and other legal documents are missing.

This practice has to led so many vehicles rotting in the traffic yards at different places in the city as well as police stations. Some of the vehicles lying here have been seized as early as two decades ago as no one has come forward to claim it.

The police department does carry out auctions of unclaimed vehicles, but rarely and moreover not many vehicles are sold as they become dilapidated over a period of time.

With the police stepping up its drive and all cases referred to the traffic court not being disposed of on a daily basis, it seems as if the cases will witness an upward swing again.