Chandrasekhar's 7-point agenda for Sibal, now

After engaging in a war of words with industrialist Ratan Tata, Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar (in picture) has now given a 7-point agenda to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal suggesting that the ministry be made "free of lobbyists and wheeler-dealers" to clean up the sector.

"Telecom policy in India has been influenced for too long by corporates and lobbyists who have free access to Sanchar Bhawan in a manner that is unhealthy for the sector," he said in a letter to Sibal.

He said regulations need to be put in place to "decline free access to lobbyists and former government officials (working as lobbyists)."

He said under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, the government is mandated to seek recommendations in the areas of introduction of new service providers or while setting terms and conditions of license.

However, "Trai has no powers to stop the government, even when it knows that its recommendations are being manipulated or provisions of the TRAI Act being vitiated," he added.

On the role of DoT, the MP accused the Department of colluding with private companies.

"...The DoT has issued these showcause notices only under pressure from the Trai and/or the media and there are enough vested interests in the DoT.

".... lack of oversight (supervision) on DoT's handling of responses to these show causes notices necessitates that this entire discourse between the DoT and private telecom companies be done under public glare and scrutiny," he said.

Chandrasekhar said the views of the consumers and analysts also need to be taken into consideration instead of just focussing on the dialogue between the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the stakeholders (corporates who operate the licenses).

The functioning of Trai, he charged, also suffers greatly on many accounts.

Firstly, it needs to be accountable and a fresh approach to its oversight by public through Parliament needs to be developed and articulated.

"The whole area of Trai's accountability to the Parliament is highly questionable, especially given the fact that its current relationship with DoT and Minister of Communication and IT smacks of a conflict of interest, with retired DoT secretaries invariably becoming Trai chairman," the letter said.

It is important, therefore, that the accountability of the Trai to Parliament is re-evaluated within the scheme of the Trai Act and appropriate amendments carried out in this regard," Chandrasekhar said.