Bid to patch up TRAI, DoT row

NEW DELHI, APRIL 29: On direction from the Prime Minister's Office PMO the Department of Telecommunications DoT and the Telecom Regulato...

NEW DELHI, APRIL 29: On direction from the Prime Minister8217;s Office PMO the Department of Telecommunications DoT and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI have been asked to end their stand-off. The PMO had to intervene in the matter as the differences between DoT and the TRAI has escalated to such an extent so as to set a bad precedent for the functioning of regulatory bodies.

The TRAI had stayed the new Internet policy of the government and also refused permission to the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd MTNL to provide cellular services in Delhi and Mumbai even though MTNL had floated a Global Depository Receipts GDR issue inviting funds for the project. DoT on its part had challenged the very jurisdiction of the TRAI in the Delhi High Court in matters relating to licensing, which DoT held was the Government8217;s prerogative. These wranglings between the two sides had led to a lot of bad blood between them.

At a meeting between Telecom Secretary A V Gokak and Principal Secretary to the PrimeMinister Brajesh Mishra on Monday, sources say, it was indicated that DoT would have to play a magnanimous role in order to allow proper functioning of the telecom sector which is scheduled to bring in investments of around Rs 1,00,000 crore over the next 15 years. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government is in no mood to risk inflow of foreign investment especially in key infrastructure sectors owing to ego problems between these two organisations.

Following this, the new Communications Minister, Sushma Swaraj, discussed the contentious issues with senior officials of DoT and also met Justice S S Sodhi, chairman of TRAI, to hear the TRAI side of the story.

Efforts have now been launched to involve the TRAI in the process of policy formulation by DoT. The telecom department is likely to solicit the regulatory authority8217;s recommendations before any major policy announcements. The move has been initiated in order to resurrect the Internet Policy whereby the Government had planned to allow private playersto provide Internet services. This policy had been stayed by the TRAI as its recommendations had not been sought and resulted in a loss of face for the Government.

The TRAI Act of 1997 had clearly outlined that the Government would seek the recommendations of the TRAI before initiating any new services or policy announcements. The TRAI is likely to be asked to drop its insistence for making these recommendations mandatory for the Government to accept. The understanding8217; between DoT and the TRAI would be such that all recommendations by the TRAI would be treated seriously and incorporated to the extent possible.

Further, the TRAI has been pressing for some amendments in the TRAI Act. These relate mostly to the system of appeals relating to judgements and orders passed by the TRAI. The TRAI has suggested that any appeals against its orders be made to a multi-judge bench in the high court and after that in the Supreme Court rather than first going to a single bench then a multi-judge bench in the high courtas is the current practice.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile, the PMO on Tuesday cleared the terms and conditions for the appointment of the chairperson and members of the TRAI. The PMO has indicated that the chairperson of TRAI, and other regulatory bodies, would be given salaries and perks as governed by the Enquiries Commission Act, 1987, which mentioned in details such entitlements for judges posted to various commissions.

Ever since the TRAI was set up in March last, these had not been defined by the Government and there was some ambiguity regarding the kind of perks that would be applicable to them. In fact, for the first seven to eight months of the TRAI being set up, the members of the authority did not draw any salary at all.