Trai told not to adjudicate

The Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has barred the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) from intervening in any dispute arising between two operators on the terms and conditions of interconnection.

Dismissing a review petition filed by the regulator against Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), TDSAT said "When Trai has no adjudicatory functions under the Act, it cannot in turn take the stand that it has powers to pass interim orders in disputes between two operators."

It said the scheme of legislation had very clearly spared the Trai of the work pertaining to adjudication of disputes and had entrusted this to TDSAT.

"If Trai has no powers to pass final orders, it cannot certainly have powers to intervene to pass interim orders," the tribunal said in its judgment.

Commenting on the judgment, Manjul Bajpai, legal adviser, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said, " This is a correct judgment by the tribunal. The regulator is there to regulate, not to adjudicate."

The tribunal was the appropriate body to adjudicate, according to the amendment made in January 2000, Bajpai added.

The regulator relied on certain clauses of the model reference interconnect offer, dealing with termination of interconnection agreement between the parties, withdrawal of interconnection for non-payment and other disputes.

The tribunal, in its judgment, said all these articles of model reference interconnect offer might be changed by parties with mutual agreement.

The TDSAT, however, said under the Act, the Trai could make recommendations either suo moto or on the request of the licensor on matters relating to technological improvements of the service, measures to facilitate further growth in the sector and other compliance of terms and conditions of licences.