About Us

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act (TRAI) was enacted in 1997. This Act established a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), whose Chairperson was to be a sitting or retired Judge of the Supreme Court or a Chief Justice of a High Court and the Members were to be persons having special knowledge of, and personal experience in, telecommunication, industry, finance, accountancy, law, management and consumer affairs.

Apart from regulatory functions, TRAI was also empowered to adjudicate upon disputes among Service Providers or between the Service Providers and a group of Consumers on matters relating to technical compatibility and interconnection between the Service Providers, revenue sharing arrangement between Service Providers and quality of telecommunication services and interests of consumers. TRAI was vested with the power to issue directions to the Service Providers. Appeals from the decisions of TRAI lay to the High Court and appeals therefrom lay to the Supreme Court. The jurisdiction of civil courts was barred. The adjudicatory powers of TRAI were challenged before the Delhi High Court on the ground that TRAI did not possess jurisdiction to issue directions to Department of Telecom (DoT) in the latter's capacity as Licensor. The High Court held that TRAI does not possess the power to issue directions to the Government in latter's capacity as Licensor. The result of the above challenge was that no separate dispute settlement mechanism was available to adjudicate upon disputes between the Licensor and Licensee for quite some time.