The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plans to continue with Rs 500 million as the upper penalty limit for operators for the alleged violation of licencing conditions. Currently, the department is working towards finalising new norms for rationalising penalties imposed on operators for violation of licencing norms.
Earlier, in April 2013, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recommended classifying penalty in two categories – minor and major. The regulatory body had suggested the imposition of a maximum penalty of up to Rs 250 million in case of a minor violation and up to Rs 100 million for a major violation by the operators.
TRAI?s recommendation had come over various telecom operators? protest against DoT?s policy of imposing higher penalties even for minor violations. Further, Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications and IT had also supported TRAI?s views to rationalise the existing penalty structure on the grounds that in a majority of the cases, the operators contested DoT?s decision to impose a penalty on them in court, thereby leading to delays in realisation of the penalty.
