The
Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal challenging the telecommunication
tariff orders of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and affirmed
the Kerala High Court verdict that such matters should be dealt by telecom
tribunal TDSAT.
The
Kerala High Court had refused to entertain the plea of Indian Broadcasting and
Digital Foundation (IBDF) against certain provisions of the Telecommunication
(Broadcasting and Cable) Services Interconnection (Addressable Systems)
Regulations, 2017 and the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services
(Eighth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff Order, 2017 issued by TRAI.
The
high court had said that IBDF should have approached the TDSAT (Telecom
Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal) to review the tariff orders.
A
bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the plea,
saying "Tariff orders can be challenged before TDSAT under the
regulations." The challenge to the regulations themselves can later
come to this court through a statutory appeal under Section 18 of the TRAI Act,
it added.
The
IBDF, in its plea, referred to a 2014 judgement of the top court in the BSNL v.
TRAI case and said it had curtailed TDSAT's authority to review TRAI
regulations, creating ambiguity regarding the jurisdiction.
The
bench acknowledged the submission and clarified the IBDF may approach TDSAT for
tariff-related disputes and later seek the statutory recourse if necessary.
"We
are keeping it open to you. There is some problem occurring for stakeholders,
but it can be addressed either by the legislature or by a Constitution bench in
light of the BSNL (2014) decision," the bench said.
The plea was filed against the high court's decision
and the IBDF sought a constitutional review.
The apex court, however, upheld the high court
findings, directing the stakeholders to first utilise TDSAT's dispute
resolution mechanism.