The Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has been established by the Central Government under Section 14 of the TRAI Act, 1997 (as amended) by way of notification in the year 2000 to adjudicate disputes in Telecom Sector involving licensor, licensee and group of consumers.

In the year 2004, the jurisdiction of TDAT was extended to include Broadcasting matters.  By way of Finance Act, 2017, the jurisdiction of TDSAT was further extended to Airport Tariff and Cyber matters.  The TDSAT has also been assigned appellate jurisdiction over Aadhaar matters under S-33C of the “Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016

The TDSAT exercises Original as well as Appellate jurisdiction over Telecom and Broadcasting matters.  Major issues before TDSAT in Telecom Sector include licensing disputes, allocation of spectrum, CAF, AGR, interconnection, quality of service etc.  The disputes in Broadcasting Sector include provision of signals, bouquet of channels and its pricing, recovery of subscription charges, STBs, disconnection/ refusal of signals etc.

The Tribunal exercises Appellate jurisdiction over Cyber matters under S-48 of the IT Act, 2000.  The Original jurisdiction under the Act lies with the Adjudicating Officers appointed by the Central Government.  The said Adjudicating Officer exercises jurisdiction to adjudicate matters where the claim for injury or damages is upto Rs.5.0 Crores.  The TDSAT exercises Appellate jurisdiction over orders of the Adjudicating Officer.

Since its inception, TDSAT has been organising seminars in different parts of the country to deliberate upon relevant and emerging issues concerning the said sectors and also to generate awareness about dispute resolution mechanism and remedies under the TRAI Act.  The forthcoming Seminar of TDSAT at Pune on 19th November, 2022 would be on “Dispute Resolution Mechanism in Telecom, Broadcasting and Cyber Sectors – Issues, Approach and Way Forward”.  Hon’ble Mr. Justice Abhay Sreeniwas Oka, Judge, Supreme Court of India will be the Chief Guest while Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dipankar Dutta, Chief Justice, Bombay High Court will be the Guest of Honour.  These dignitaries shall address the august gathering comprising of Hon’ble Judges, Lawyers, service providers of Telecom and Broadcasting services, officers of the Government, Media persons, Law students etc. Before address by the said dignitaries, Hon’ble Mr. Justice D.N. Patel, Chairperson, TDSAT shall deliver the welcome address.

During the Business Session, presentations will be delivered by Shri Aseem Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary, Information and Technology & Adjudicating Officer, Govt. of Maharashtra, Ms. Sampat Meena, Joint Director, CBI, Mr. Meet Malhotra, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Kunal Tandon and Mr. Vibhav Srivastava, Advocates on topics relating to Cyber Frauds, Disputes relating to Telecom and Broadcasting sectors and regulatory adjudication etc.

 

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MI/CY

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