PATNA, May 9 -- Fewer than 5% of the nearly 14 lakh vehicle owners in Patna whose traffic challans have remained pending for over 90 days have received SMS intimation about their dues and the upcoming National Lok Adalat scheduled at Gyan Bhawan on Saturday, transport department officials admitted on Friday. The National Lok Adalat will take up disposal of pending traffic challan cases at concessional rates, with discounts of up to 50% in select offences. A division bench of the Patna high court, comprising Chief Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Harish Kumar, had directed the transport department on May 4 to notify all such defaulters within two days about the reduced settlement amounts through which their cases could be disposed of during the National Lok Adalat. "We could intimate nearly 60,000 of the 14 lakh people whose traffic challans are pending for over 90 days about the National Lok Adalat in such short notice. We roped in BSNL to send bulk messages, but it was not possible to cover all of the defaulters. We are also issuing newspaper advertisements," a senior transport department official said. As a result, a large number of motorists remained unaware of both their pending challans and the National Lok Adalat proceedings on Saturday. Among them are Anish Kumar, who has four pending challans related to helmet violations; Nishi Sinha, penalised for overspeeding and riding without a helmet; Archana, against whom seven challans are pending, six of them for helmet violations; Md Zaman Jamal for riding without a helmet; Shruti for overspeeding while travelling from Muzaffarpur to Darbhanga; and Saurabh Kumar, who has three pending helmet-related challans. In contrast, Kumar Saurabh said he had received SMS alerts regarding four pending challans - two for overspeeding and two for jumping red lights in New Delhi, where he had earlier worked with a media organisation. However, he pointed out that availing the discounted settlement would require him to travel to Delhi. Similarly, his brother-in-law Vivek Anand, currently residing in Delhi, would have to visit Vaishali district to settle an overspeeding challan issued during a visit to Bihar last Chhath festival. "The purpose of the National Lok Adalat is defeated if one cannot pay online the settlement amount of a traffic challan from anywhere in India," Saurabh said. The transport department has also not complied fully with the high court's directive to notify vehicle owners about the reduced settlement amount applicable to their challans. "The exact reduced settlement amount could not be specified in the SMS because the final amount will be determined by the presiding judge within the legal framework, based on rules notified by the state on April 30 under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. However, we will mention an indicative percentage of discount in the SMS," another senior official said. The department has also failed to establish a real-time database access mechanism for authorised officials to instantly verify pending challans and automatically compute reduced penalties at the Lok Adalat venue - an issue specifically highlighted during court proceedings by Dharmendra Kumar Singh, member secretary of the Bihar State Legal Services Authority, which is coordinating the National Lok Adalat in the state.....