Monday, July 18 2005 16:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Telecom Regulator TRAI today (July 18, 2005) failed to get any interim relief from the Supreme Court as it refused to stay telecom appellate Tribunal Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT's) order restricting regulator's jurisdiction to effect changes in the agreement signed between two telecom service providers.

A Bench comprising Justice H K Sema and Justice B N Srikrishna said that the Apex Court and that have admitted the statutory appeal filed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) there was no question of grant of any interim relief at this stage.

Appearing for TRAI, senior advocate G L Sanghi sought a stay on the order of TDSAT on the ground that it was causing a lot of damage to the consumer, the public interest involved in the telecom sector and the telecom services.

On a petition filed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the TDSAT on April 27 had ruled that TRAI had no power to interfere with interconnectivity offers of telecom operators and the agreements signed between two operators on this issue.

TRAI had said that to promote expeditious and effective interconnection, which was of vital importance to telecom sector, it had exercised jurisdiction to suggest and direct incorporation of changes in the interconnection agreements as the dominant service always wanted to dictate terms over the small service providers on this issue.