Rajya Sabha MP Wilson Writes To Union Minister Seeking Establishment Of Regional Benches Of TDSAT

He claimed that TDSAT was constituted to create a specialised appellate tribunal to adjudicate "any dispute" arising between a licensor and a licensee, two or more service providers and a group of consumers under the TRAI Act. Thus, TDSAT was performing as a specialised appellate tribunal for the telecom sector.

However, vide Section 168 of Finance Act the jurisdiction of TDSAT was enhanced to include matters before the Cyber Appellate Tribunal and also the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal. In other words, the Tribunal began hearing disputes arising under Information Technology Act, 2000 and Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008. Therefore, now the Tribunal hears disputes pertaining to Telecommunication, Aviation, Information Technology and Broadcasting industries.

This enhancement of jurisdiction has led to an imbalance between the workload and the infrastructure available with the tribunal. This is mainly due to shortage of administrative staff in the tribunal. Mr. Wilson also pointed out that the power to create posts or sanction creation of posts lies with the Central Government and the Department of Telecommunications under Section 14F, 14G and 14H of the TRAI Act.

He thus suggested setting up of regional benches of the TDSAT by invoking section 14B(3)(c) of the TRAI Act, 1997. The Regional Benches can be established by notifying four distinct zones namely North, West, East and South. The litigation arising out of Northern Region could be adjudicated by the Tribunal established in Delhi being the Principal Bench. The litigation arising out of Western Region in Mumbai; Easter Region in Kolkata and Southern Region on Chennai. This setting up of regional benches will help in ensuring access to justice to all

Apart from setting up regional benches, Mr. Wilson also suggested that the Department of Telecommunication should make available necessary infrastructure and staffs. He recommended amendments to section 14-H to empower the Chairperson of the Tribunal to communicate to the Government the number and type of staff required for the Tribunal. The recommendation of the Chairperson must be binding on the Government and the Government must provide the staff requested by the Tribunal as only the Chairperson would be able to judge the necessary number of staff required for the efficient functioning of the Tribunal. It is incomprehensible how the DoT can judge the requirement of the Tribunal externally. Ultimately, if the Tribunal is well equipped, it will lead to speedy disposal of cases, which will only benefit the sector.