With the notification of the Telecom Act, 2023, it will now be much easier for senior government officials, who are not IAS officers, to become Chairman or Member of Trai.
Previously, the conditions were too stringent, making it difficult to find good candidates for the post of member, resulting in the post remaining vacant for long periods, say experts. According to Trai’s website, all the member posts (two full-time and two part-time) remain vacant.
Only the president and members of the authority are empowered to make decisions, which underlines the critical nature of their positions.
As per the earlier conditions, to become a member of Trai, a person had to serve as additional secretary or any equivalent post for not less than three years. But at the time when most of the ITS (Indian Telecommunication Service) Officers or other non-IAS officials come to this stage as they are close to retirement and have been in the post for only six to eight months, making them ineligible. But now the condition of serving a minimum of three years as additional secretary or any equivalent post has been done away with.
“It will be very good because in the previous clause several telecommunications professionals who are or are in Bachelor of Arts in Plain Language (BSNL)Bring, CDoT, TCIL etc. were unable to apply… Now they will have the opportunity to become members or presidents of Trai.” Sudhir GuptaThe former Trai secretary told ET. Section 59(b) of the Telecom Act, which came into effect on July 5, streamlines recruitment for the posts of chairman and member of Trai. It clearly lays down the conditions for government employees and private sector professionals to apply for the posts. While there was no bar on recruitment from the private sector earlier too, the conditions were ambiguous, leading to negligible recruitment of people from outside the government machinery. While Trai members have all been government officials, the post of chairman was largely dominated by IAS officers.
Anil Kumar Lahoti, the current chairman, is the third non-IAS member to be appointed chairman of the telecom regulator since its inception in 1997.
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