Safe City Islamabad has left more than Rs21 million in traffic fines uncollected due to the absence of an early recovery mechanism, according to a new report by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
The audit found that Safe City Islamabad issued 47,730 e-challans worth Rs30.94 million during the financial year. Only Rs9.84 million, covering 12,852 e-challans, was recovered, leaving 34,878 e-challans worth Rs21.10 million outstanding.
Auditors also found that Safe City Islamabad was not fully integrated with the excise and taxation databases of other provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Gilgit-Baltistan, only covering Islamabad and Punjab, thereby limiting enforcement across all vehicle registrations.
Furthermore, no reconciliation process existed to confirm whether fines were properly deposited during vehicle transfers or token fee payments. The absence of a clear legal mechanism for imposing e-challan fines was flagged as a serious lapse that may have negatively affected public revenue.
In its response, management stated that fine collection is ongoing, as violators pay at their convenience, noting that Rs19.31 million out of Rs32.59 million had been collected via e-challans in FY 2023–24.
They added that Safe City Islamabad is already integrated with the Islamabad and Punjab excise systems, and that requests for API-based integration have been sent to Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.
Management accepted the audit observations. Consequently, auditors recommended the recovery of all outstanding amounts and the nationwide integration of the e-challan system.
