| Policy & Regulation | | | TRAI may act like as civil court | | | TT Correspondent | | 17 May 2011 | | |   DoT has sought legal advice on the issue of issue of the communications ministry proposed move to grant greater powers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that will enable the watchdog to act like a civil court.
The communication ministry planning to bring Trai on a par with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Competition Commission of India and allow it to "summon persons, examine them on oath, demand documents and evidence on affidavits and, in appropriate cases, call for expert assistance in conducting inquiries",said an internal note of the Department of Telecom (DoTThis is the first time Trai has received a favourable response from the ministry on its demand for more teeth. Its similar requests were earlier spurned by former telecom ministers A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran.
The telecom department has also accepted Trai's demand for power to deal with telemarketers, although it is silent on the details.
Existing rules on curbing spam SMSes and pesky calls on mobiles have largely come unstuck as both the regulator and the department were involved in a jurisdiction battle.
DoT had opposed Trai's mandate that all telemarketers register with it. It also did not allow Trai to impose financial penalties on erring telemarketers.
Currently, Trai can only file a case before a metropolitan magistrate to impose fine on a telemarketer who violates the norms.
While some have welcomed the proposal, many in the industry have questioned its rationale.
Giving Trai the powers of a civil court will be an infringement on the telecom tribunal's role, said Rajan Matthews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, the industry body representing GSM operators.
But telecom analyst and Com First India director Mahesh Uppal is in favour of more legal muscle for Trai.
"At present, Trai's hands are tied as it does not have the legal teeth to compel a telco to furnish information or data that may be critical for discharging its functions," said Uppal.
DoT, however, is non-committal on several other demands raised by Trai.
For instance, it said it would seek an internal consensus on Trai's long-pending demand for more powers to resolve connectivity disputes between mobile phone companies.
It has also not cleared Trai's request for powers to penalise operators for 'non-compliance of the terms and conditions of their licence'. |
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