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Govt refuses to take Mehrotra as TRAI member

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Continuing its policy of getting its own men appointed in regulatory bodies, the UPA Government has rejected the proposal for the appointment of Dr Rakesh Kumar Mehrotra, a self-employed telecom expert, as a member of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) without mentioning any reason.

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Dr Mehrotra was selected by the search-cum-selection panel, which was formed on the instruction from the Department of Personnel Training (DoPT) under the chairmanship of Prof VS Ramamurthy, director, National Institute of Advanced Studies. Other members of the panel were Chairman of TRAI, secretary of Department of Telecom and Secretary of DoPT.

“The government has not accepted the name of the first candidate who was selected for the post. We are reviewing the steps that we need to take further,” said R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of Telecom, in an interaction with CIOL.

When this correspondent asked for the reason, Chandrashekhar mentioned that the government has only apprised DoT about its decision through the Department of Personnel and Training.

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“We have been only apprised of the government’s decision on the subject and it is their decision that we have to follow,” explained Chandrashekhar.

DoT was informed about the government’s decision on this subject in mid of November. The appointment of a permanent member in TRAI is a must as per TRAI Act 1997. According to this Act, the authority in TRAI should consist of a chairperson, and not more than two whole-time members and not more than two-part time members, to be appointed by the central government.

The authority has to play a key role of providing a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition. This is one of the main objectives of TRAI as per TRAI Act 1997.

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The search-cum-selection panel was formed under the guidelines and procedures laid down by the government. It was the first time the panel was given the opportunity to select a non-government official for the post.

The post of the permanent member of TRAI has been lying vacant after the retirement of R N Prabhakar in February this year. The panel recommended three names for the post on April 10, 2010. The other two names were RK Arnold, Secretary, TRAI and Satya Pal, CGM, Gujarat.

When CIOL contacted Dr Mehrotra, he still sounded positive and expressed that his belief is that his selection would be accepted by the government.

“I have not received any official intimation on this subject. I am hearing it from you only. I was empaneled through a process of fair selection and in independent India the government follows selection procedure laid down by it. There is no reason that I see exist for the information that you are giving me,” said Dr Mehrotra.

This is the second time Dr Mehrotra was empaneled for the post of permanent member of TRAI. First time his name was at third number among the list of selected panel members and this time he was named on the top of the list by the search-cum-selection panel.

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