Ombudsman for telecom sector will help expedite resolution of issues

By recommending the establishment of telecom ombudsmen for amicable settlement of consumer disputes, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has given voice to a longpending demand of consumers for an efficient, effective and independent mechanism for quick redress of their grievances vis-a-vis the telecom sector.

Of course this is not the first time that the TRAI has come up with the suggestion. But this time, the recommendation has a sense of urgency in view of certain developments affecting the consumer’s right to satisfactory redress of grievances.

A burgeoning subscriber base of over a billion and a whopping number of complaints adding up to as much as 10 million in a quarter, certainly calls for alternative disputes redress systems on a priority basis . The confusion that continues to prevail over the jurisdiction of the consumer courts to hear telecom cases following the 2009 judgment of the Supreme Court in General Manager, Telecom Vs M.Krishnan, also underscores the urgent need for an effective, alternate system of redress.

Ironically, even though the raison d’etre of the telecom regulator is similar to that of the insurance regulator but there are no ombudsmen in the telecom sector.

When the TRAI Act was drafted, the argument put forward by the authorities for not providing a mechanism for redress of individual consumer complaints was that the consumer courts established under the Consumer Protection Act were already providing relief to consumers. However, even this means of redress was taken away, following the 2009 SC judgment in the Krishnan case.

The judgment had its origin in the special leave petition filed by the BSNL, challenging the jurisdiction of the consumer courts to decide telecom cases, quoting Section 7 B of the Telegraph Act, which provides for arbitration of disputes between the telegraph authority and the consumer.

The action of public sector telecom company was condemnable, because it was arguing on a false premise. Section 7 B provides for arbitration of disputes between the “telegraph authority” and the consumer. But BSNL is not a telegraph authority and, therefore, Section 7 B does not apply to BSNL at all . Nor does it apply to private telecom operators.

But unfortunately, it won the case, resulting in consumer courts shutting their doors on telecom consumers. As large number of these disputes started coming for arbitration, the department of telecom suddenly woke up and in 2014, issued a clarification, saying that the verdict was ‘sui generis’ (meaning unique, constituting a class of its own) in its application and, therefore, consumer courts need not abide by it.

But confusion persists even today. Just three months ago, in Vivek Bharadwaj Vs Vodafone Essar East Ltd, the service provider argued before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission that since the review petition filed by the department of telecom in Krishnan case was dismissed by the Supreme Court on grounds of delay as well as merit, the consumer courts cannot sit in judgement over these disputes.

What the telecom consumers urgently need today is a system of Ombudsmen empowered to award them compensation and also impose punitive damages on the erring service providers.

Senior BJP leaders including party chief Amit Shah, union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari and JP Nadda were in Panaji for the ceremony.

In Delhi, the BJP and the Congress clashed over Goa as well as Manipur, which, too, voted a hung House with the Congress finishing first but again beaten by the BJP in staking claim to power.

The Congress accused the BJP of stealing the mandate of people and walked out of the Lok Sabha with allies in protest.

Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of undermining democracy and alleged the Goa governor acted in a partisan manner.

“The Congress party has been protesting that it should have been invited by the governor of Goa to have its leaders sworn. But the Congress party has neither elected a leader nor has it till date made any claim before the governor of Goa,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

The views of Jaitley, who has been given the additional charge of defence, echoed those of the Supreme Court.

The court pulled up the Congress for the delay in filing the petition.

“You should have made him (Parrikar) a party when you knew he is going to become the CM. You want an order behind the back of a man and we shall not allow this,” the bench told senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Congress legislature party leader Chandrakant Kavlekar.

Kavlekar rushed to the court on the day of Holi on Monday, asking for the oath ceremony to be put on hold.

“You have not disputed their (BJP’s) support, neither before the governor nor before us. On what ground should we stay the swearing-in?” the court asked.

There were rumblings within the Congress as well.

Senior party leaders criticised the delay in garnering support from other parties and Independent MLAs.

“Accountability should be fixed and heads should roll for Goa as well as for other states,” former union minister Renuka Chowdhury said, referring to the recent five state assembly elections.

Barring Punjab, where it returned to power with a huge majority, the Congress again fared badly. It lost Uttarakhand to the BJP while in Uttar Pradesh it won only seven of the 105 seats it contested in 403-member House. (With agency inputs)

He said he noticed this trend among students from India as well as from the United States, and also from researchers and faculty members. “There’s a real upswing in interest in UofT. There’s definitely a spike going on right at the moment.”

That increase may accentuate in the years ahead if American policy turns immigrant-unfriendly.

Mel Broitman, director of Canadian University Application Center, said, “I expect that interest to grow. I anticipate a growth of 20 per cent this year and 50 per cent next year.”

Referring to recent attacks against Indians , he said, “People are starting to get a little bit panic-stricken.” He said CUAC’s four offices in India have seen a sharp rise in the number of calls coming in, some from students who were originally planning to study in the US or are already enrolled in US schools and are exploring a transfer.

Canada’s higher education system, he felt, was getting its due. “It’s not a second-best choice for quality, it’s just that people have always been thinking about America.”

Sargent said Canada’s openness was a draw for international students. “There are some other parts of the world that are looking inwards. And Canada is looking outwards and reaching out globally. I think it’s a competitive advantage for our nation.”

Recruiters are seeking to leverage this situation. Broitman will head to India after the board examinations are completed.

For UofT, India “has been a priority for years” and Sargent will be in New Delhi and Mumbai later this month, for a visit with an agenda that includes honing alumni networks, research partnerships, and certainly, attracting even more students from India. As he said, “We want to double down in India.”

His friends at the university said soon after Vemula’s death, Muthukrishnan had written in his blog: “Dear anti-nationals, let me tell you, one day this nation’s leader is going to sell all. Just for a selfie and for a standing ovation from the outsiders. Hundreds and hundreds of Dappa Rao’s are going to kill thousands of Rohiths and they are going to say, ‘He/She was a gifted student’.”

Police said Muthukrishnan reportedly went to the house of his friend, Goman Kim, a Korean national, in Munirka Vihar for lunch around 1pm.

“He was reportedly soaked in colour. His friend Goman told us that he asked Krishnan to wash off the colour and relax for a while because he looked tired. Muthukrishnan told Goman that he was not in a good mood and that he had slept at 3am the previous night. Goman then asked him to freshen up and sleep for a while in his room till the lunch was ready,” DCP, South, Ishwar Singh said.

Muthukrishnan then retired to the room and locked it from inside, while Goman and the others stayed outside.

“Later in the afternoon,two other friends also reached here. After the lunch was ready, they knocked at the door, but Muthukrishnan did not respond. Thinking that he must be in deep sleep, the friends did not disturb. When he did not open the door till 5pm, they got worried and went to check on him. One of his friends then peeped inside through a crack and saw him hanging from the fan. He had used a thin blanket to prepare the noose,” Singh said.

Investigators said in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Muthukrishnan was not affiliated to any political party or union. He had joined the course in October and was staying in Jhelum hostel.

Recently, Muthukrishnan had written five Facebook posts, the last on March 10, in which he narrated an episode from his childhood to explain how Dalits are treated.

In one post, he recounts a time when he was travelling with his father carrying dry fish and was shunned by people because of the stench from the fish. In the post, he compared the dry fish to Dalits.

“These outlets also comprise 600 roadside eateries. However, we assume, they don’t have the provision for washrooms so, the decision doesn’t apply to them,” the official said.

The move is expected to spell relief for women who have a particularly hard time for lack of enough public toilets.

The civic agency is working on the modalities of the move and finalising the amount that can be imposed as penalty on defaulters.

“Since the issuance of health trade licence is at the discretion of the municipal corporation, we will add this point in its list of terms and conditions next month,” said Goel.

There are 580 public urinals and 480 toilets in South Delhi. Out of 480, only 140 can be used by women. These include toilets in Lajpat Nagar, Green Park, Safdarjung Development Area, Rajouri Garden, Bhikaji Cama Place and Nehru place.

AAP didn’t perform as well in the civic by-elections last year, winning just five of the 13 seats that went to the polls.

The BJP – which witnessed an electoral surge across several states in the recent polls – has been wielding power in Delhi’s three municipal corporations for a decade now.

The Congress has remained its principal opposition.

While the saffron party hopes to retain power over the MCD with a performance akin to the civic body victories it scored in Maharashtra and Odisha, the Congress hopes to use the polls as an opportunity to revive itself after drawing a naught in the 2015 assembly elections.

Nearly 1.34 crore voters will decide the fate of political candidates in 272 seats of the three civic bodies — the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) – in the upcoming polls.

The NDMC and SDMC have 104 seats each, while the EDMC has 64. At present, the BJP holds 152 seats, Congress 91, AAP eight, BSP 10 and others nine. One seat remains vacant.