 "vodafone")
The October 21 TRAI recommendation to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for levy of the Rs 50 crore penalty in each of the 21 circles, comes on the backdrop of a complaint made by Reliance Jio Ltd. alleging Vodafone's refusal to comply with license conditions as prescribed. Following the complaint, the telecom company had been issued a show cause notice for non-compliance on September 27 and asked to respond to it within 10 days.
Vodafone, however, has alleged that TRAI held a meeting before the expiry of the 10-day time period and without allowing the telecom provider to defend itself in person, as required by law. The petition has also mentioned that the proposed penalty is not in accordance with the Quality of Service regulations, according to which a service provider can be fined a maximum of Rs 50,000 for failures to meet the service requirements and seeks the quashing of the recommendation on these grounds.
Opposing these contentions, the counsel for TRAI highlighted before court that Vodafone had been provided ample opportunities to reply to the show cause notice and provide the data as requested. The regulator also mentioned that there was no necessity to provide the telecom company with the opportunity of personal representation, as TRAI is not a quasi-judicial body and has merely made a recommendation to the government, which is the final adjudicatory body to impose any such penalty.
TRAI also questioned the maintainability of the present petition, calling it an attempt by Vodafone to bypass the due course of law, under which they would have the opportunity to make all necessary representations before the DoT as per the license agreement, before any fine could be imposed.
At the end of the day's proceedings, Vodafone still sought a stay to the operation of the October 21 recommendation on the ground that the DoT should not come to a decision based on the communication, while the matter was still pending before the court. In support of their apprehensions, the telecom provider mentioned that anti-competitive proceedings had already been initiated against the company, as a result of the action taken by regulator.
Though the bench refused to provide Vodafone with the relief as requested, through the notice of impleadment it has now brought the Centre officially on record in order to seek information on the ministry's position before taking a final call on the matter. The case has been listed for further hearing on January 3, 2017.
