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Journalism of Courage
New Delhi, Mar 22: Carrying his war with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) even further, Communications Minister Jagmohan has issued yet another gazette notification of rules to “regulate the procedure for conducting inquiry against a member of the TRAI.” This is the second notification in the last one week which has passed through Jagmohan’s office, making it amply evident that he may be making grounds to embarrass the TRAI members.
The notification of March 16 says that “whenever the central Government is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for making an inquiry against a member,” under Section 7 of the TRAI Act, “it may, after consulting the Chief Justice of India, appoint a judge for the purpose of conducting such an inquiry.”
The powers that have been bestowed on the judge “while trying a suit”, will include summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him under oath, requiring the discovery and production of documents, receiving evidence onaffidavits and requisitioning any public record or document or copy of such record from any office.
The notification on the framing of these rules comes two years late as the TRAI was established in March, 1997 and rules for running the Authority were to be framed by the Government soon after. Earlier last week, the Communications Ministry also issued a notification on the rules governing the travel allowances and other perks of the TRAI members. These rules affected a substantial cut on the travel allowances that the TRAI has originally allowed its own members.
The flurry of notifications from the Communications Ministry follows a recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General which found fault with the high travel allowances — both domestic and foreign — that the TRAI had given itself.The CAG report, TRAI members were entitled to a $ 500 per day allowance when travelling abroad in every foreign country except Nepal; where the per day allowance is $ 250.
