Dr Seshagiri may not accept TRAI appointment

Director General of National Informatics Centre (NIC) Dr N. Seshagiri, it seems, has not been able to make up his mind about his joining the newly reconstituted Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as its part-time member.

The TRAI was reconstituted by the government last month, removing its power of settling telecom disputes. Bar one, none, including the chairman S.S. Sodhi, have been included in the new TRAI team.

It is not that Dr Seshagiri does not want to work anymore. But he thinks it is time to fight for a larger cause than just "going around in circles about smaller issues". Speaking to CNS, he said, "I now want to work from outside the government and contribute to the private sector through such association like MAIT, NASSCOM etc. for various issues such as preparing our industry for competition."

"In fact," he argued, "who needs a body (such as TRAI) to decide on issues like tariffs, which, to my opinion, should rather be left to the market forces to decide." He was also of the opinion that we should not create too many power centers to dictate their terms. "Creation of TRAI is just like creating a monster to bring another (DOT) under control."

While citing reason for his voluntary retirement, Dr Seshagiri told that it was largely to safeguard the post of NIC Director General from the IAS lobby. He said, "If I were to wait for my superannuation then I am sure an IAS would have taken it over. To avoid the situation I retired three months in advance to supervise the smooth transition of the post to another professional."