TRAI should not regulate Govt8217;

NEW DELHI, MAR 19: Communications minister Jagmohan said today that while the government wanted a strong regulator in the telecom sector, it would not like it to ignore the wishes of Parliament or be unjust to the common man.quot;A regulator cannot be a super government or a super Parliament,quot; he said while addressing the fifth annual conference of the PTC India foundation here. 8220;TRAI should not regulate the government and it should not try to act as a super regulator,8221; Jagmohan Jagmohan said that TRAI was assuming powers not provided to it under the TRAI Act. It had sought to benefit the rich and ignore the poor and the low income group, going against the unanimous recommendations of Parliament to the contrary, he added.

The government, he clarified, wanted a strong and independent regulator, but it has to function quot;within the systemquot; determined by Parliament and adopt a balanced approach, he said.

Accusing private service providers of not fulfilling the contractual obligations, he said they have therebyundermined the process of reform in the telecom sector. He called upon the service providers to fulfill the contractual obligations. The minister revealed that the companies who had concluded an agreement with the government have not fulfilled the obligation of providing telephones in rural areas and the government had to come forward to fill in this gap. Jagmohan said the service providers must pay up their licence fees. They want the rules of the game changed because they are losing, he observed referring to the defaulter companies.

The minister said the DoT was not for monopoly in its operations and with this in view it had opened up allowing entry of the private sector.