Govt for rationalising of penalties on telcos

A DoT panel had recommended a slab-based fine structure for telcos to start from Rs 1 lakh

The government is planning to rationalise the penalty structure for telecom companies, so a company is not fined Rs 50 crore for any violation.

"The idea is to rationalise the penalty structure so the fee is decided based on the pattern of violation," M F Farooqui, secretary, department of telecommunications (DoT), said. The maximum for any violation would be Rs 50 crore, he said.

According to a discussion, a DoT panel had recommended a slab-based structure that would start from Rs 1 lakh.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal had asked the DoT to form a panel after the sector told him even for minor violations, a company was fined Rs 50 crore.

The panel has suggested examining violations on nine parameters. Warnings could lead to a penalty of Rs 1 lakh, minor violations Rs 1 crore, moderate Rs 5 crore, major Rs 20 crore and severe Rs 50 crore, sources said.

The suggestions will be put before an inter-ministerial panel and the Telecom Commission (TC) for approval. The panel has suggested examining a violation in terms of its impact on the exchequer, customers, public interest, national security, policy guidelines, etc. It noted after examining these, violations could be categorised under functional classifications like company, commercial, network, equipment, technical, service, operations, security and finance level to measure their impact. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in April 2012 had recommended classifying penalties in two categories, minor and major. It had suggested a maximum penalty of Rs 25 lakh in case of a minor violation and Rs 10 crore for a major one. But, the TC did not approve this.

Most charges have been challenged in courts. The government has charged companies Rs 38,000 crore, if one-time fee is included.