Trai may get more teeth to address complaints, can act like a civil court

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has circulated a Cabinet note to confer upon the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) the powers of a civil court along with penal and enforcement powers so that it ensure compliance of telecom companies in addressing consumer complaints.

DoT officials said that comments have been sought from different ministries as well as the industry and various other stake holders by June 7. The proposal to empower Trai will be forwarded to the Cabinet by early July, said an official.

Currently, all powers related to the telecom sector are vested in DoT while Trai remains a toothless regulator which cannot even address grievances of the subscriber.

In March 2012, Trai had asked the government to confer it with the powers of a civil court so that it could secure compliance of operators in public interest. "Confer powers of civil court on Trai to enable the Authority to summon persons and receive evidence, and also call for expert advice while conducting an enquiry," the regulator had said in its response to DoT's draft of National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012.

Soon after taking over as Trai chairman last May, Rahul Khullar had told DoT that the Trai Act needs to be tuned to changes in the industry that have taken place since it was introduced.

Demanding financial independence and power to impose fine on erring companies, Khullar had asked the government to amend the Trai Act. Stating that the situation in 2012 was different from the situation in 1997, when Trai was created, Khullar had stated that the government had been considering empowering Trai for five to six years but no action was taken.

The government had proposed to review the Trai Act under the NTP-2012 with a view to address regulatory inadequacies. Trai has sought more powers to effectively exercise current regulatory powers. It has also said that some of its recommendatory functions need be converted into regulatory powers. Some powers proposed by Trai fall under the domain of DoT such as the imposition of a penalty for violating licence conditions.

However, functions like ensuring quality of service are in Trai's domain and it has sought the power to impose penalties to perform this task effectively.

Courtesy: Mail Today