Justice S Hegde to head TDSAT

With the hotting up of the telecom and broadcasting sector due to entry of more and more players, legal disputes in the field are bound to increase, Justice Santosh Hegde, who took over as chairperson of TDSAT, said on Monday.

"Players are so powerful and the field is so fertile, legal battles are bound to continue," Justice Hegde said.

Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, being a major dispute resolving and specialised institution, he said, would be able to do a lot of justice dispensation.

"I am happy to get an opportunity to do other than regular court work... here it will be a first hand experience as there will be no appeal but original petition," the former Supreme Court judge told PTI on Monday.

Asked about the controversy over jurisdiction of TDSAT, Hegde said the Supreme Court is presently hearing a petition in this regard and "it will give us an indication what is the area of jurisdiction of TDSAT".

About 90 cases are pending with the TDSAT, Hegde said adding most of the cases were related to broadcasting and cable operators and were not very serious in nature.

He, however, said that much more complicated cases in the broadcasting sector were expected in the tribunal especially when it comes to service provider Vs another service provider and the government.