Telecom Commission to discuss Pitroda report today

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Telecom Commission in its meeting today will discuss the implementation of the recommendations made by Sam Pitroda Panel on restructuring of BSNL and MTNL.

The recommendations made by Sam Pitroda panel were largely ignored by former union telecommunications minister A Raja. Various stakeholders in the restructuring of these public sector units alleged that the process of selecting BSNL and MTNL chairman cum managing director, which was started under Raja, was manipulated.

In the last week of October, Sanchar Nigam Executive Association and a non government organization called Telecom Watchdog filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Delhi High Court to quash the selection process.

The Pitroda panel has recommended that the government should hire the best talent from the industry for the post of CMD in these PSUs. According to SNEA, the eligibility criteria for the top post in the PSUs were allegedly manipulated several times and tuned in a manner to accommodate only an Indian Telecom Service officer.

Pitroda Panel in total made 15 recommendations to improve the working of telecom PSUs but some of the points were opposed by BSNL employees' union. The points that were welcomed by BSNL employee union were allegedly ignored by Raja.

Kapil Sibal, who took the additional charge of the telecom ministry after Raja was forced to quit, has started reviewing these allegations and has asked the Department of Telecom to re-look at the recommendations made by Pitroda panel for restructuring of the PSU. For the time being the ongoing process of CMD for these PSUs selection has been kept on hold.