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TRAI gives DoT a breather

TRAI Chairman S S Sodhi again rejected the appeal of the DoT counsel for joint hearing of the two cases of non-implementation of the authority's order and the 'review petition' filed by DoT of the same order.

In their affidavit, the cellular operators had attached telephone bills issued by DoT for fixed-to-cellular calls made after May 1.

The bills stated that even though TRAI had struck down the DoT notification for an additional Rs 10 levy on fixed to mobile calls, DoT continued to charge at the same rate.

In their written submission before the TRAI during the last adjournment, the cellular operators had highlighted specific cases of non-implementation in almost all the circles.

Though TRAI had instructed DoT to implement the order from May 1, DoT had reported to TRAI that it had internally decided to implement the order. Following this, TRAI had threatened to attach DoT's property for the breach of court.

Refusing to combine the two cases as requested by the DoT counsel, TRAI had clearly stated that the review matter would be taken up only after a final decision on the issue of non-implementation of its order.

TRAI was also against combining the two independent issues during the last hearing and rescheduled the hearing of the review petition case from July 14 to July 22.

However, DoT's latest position on the non-implementation of the TRAI order is that though the department had promptly acted on the TRAI order and had sent it to the regional offices, the delay was mainly because it took time to trickle down to the end users.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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