Delhi Consumer Court imposes penalty on tele-callers

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator’s proposal to ban unsolicited calls on mobile seems to have taken its first penalty on two financial institutions and a mobile operator.

This is the first time in the country that companies have been penalized for making unwanted calls to subscribers. The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission’s went hammer and tongs on two financial institutions and a telecom service provider on a petition filed by a mobile subscriber on receiving unsolicited calls.

The commission has imposed a joint fine of Rs 25 lakh on ICICI Bank and American Express Bank. Airtel and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) were also fined a penalty of Rs 50 lakh.

The commission, headed by Justice J.D. Kapoor, issued the order based on a petition filed by a Saket-based lawyer who was an Airtel subscriber. The court said every subscriber who suffered from such calls shall be entitled to a minimum compensation of Rs 25,000.

Considering the growing dissatisfaction among consumers over unsolicited telemarketing calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has initiated a consultation process in November 2006, with the objective of reducing the bulk of unsolicited commercial communications.

According to the regulator unsolicited commercial communications include telemarketing calls, SMS or other commercial or marketing messages.

The regulator had suggested that the solution to the problem could be made by reducing the number of telemarketing calls to people who do not wish to receive them rather than putting a ban on the telemarketing activity.

However, the GSM operators responded that the telemarketing should not be banned. The operators through a letter written by the COAI suggested a ‘penalty for violating the do-not-call clause offered by some of the subscribers’ to address the issue of unsolicited calls.

However, no decision has been taken by the regulator till now.

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