Centre plans to open TRAI chairperson’s post to private sector

“There is a proposal that a person who has never worked in the government can be appointed as the chairperson of TRAI if they have at least 30 years of professional experience at a senior level, such as a board member or chief executive officer,” the official said, requesting anonymity since the talks are currently private.

According to sources, this would essentially mean an amendment to Section 4 of the TRAI Act, 1997, under which the Centre is empowered to appoint the chairperson and members of the regulatory body who have “special knowledge of, and professional experience in, telecommunication, industry, finance, accountancy, law, management or consumer affairs”.

The government official said there have been no appointments from the private sector for the post so far, since the basic eligibility criteria was never laid down. “Besides, the changes being mulled also signal that TRAI has evolved as a regulator over the years and could now do well under a person from the private sector,” said sources.

According to the current rules, a TRAI member must have held the post of Secretary or Additional Secretary to the Government of India, or any equivalent post in the central or state government, for at least three years. However, no rules are specified for the post of chairperson.

“While technically, the chairperson could have been appointed from the private sector, the government had so far stayed away from appointing such an individual due to obvious concerns of conflict of interest. But the changes being considered now signal the changing mindset of the Centre towards opening up key regulatory posts for individuals from the private sector,” said the official.

The current TRAI chairperson, P D Vaghela, is a Gujarat-cadre 1986-batch IAS officer, and was earlier Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals. His predecessor, R S Sharma, a Jharkhand-cadre 1978-batch IAS officer, was the IT Secretary from 2014 to 2015.

TRAI’s first chairperson S S Sodhi, who was in office from 1997 till 2000, was former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. Its second chairperson, M S Verma, who demitted office in 2003, was former chairman of the State Bank of India. So far, they are the only two non-IAS officers who served as TRAI chairpersons.

“Naturally, if the amendments go through, there will be checks and balances in place to ensure that if someone from the private sector is chosen, there is no scope of any conflict of interest after their appointment,” said the official.

The thinking is in line with the government’s recent moves of appointing people from the private sector to head key regulatory bodies. Earlier this year, Madhabi Puri Buch became the first private sector executive to head the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), more than 30 years after the market regulator got statutory powers.

More recently, the government notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, under which the Data Protection Board of India will act as the key arbiter and enforcer of the privacy legislation. The Act allows the chairperson of the board to be appointed from the private sector, provided he/ she has relevant experience in the fields of data governance, administration or implementation of laws related to social or consumer protection, and dispute resolution, among other things.