As the term of incumbent Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma (Retd.IAS:1982:JH) coming to an end on September 30, 2020, scores of retired and due for retirement, IAS Officers and a few specialist have joined the fray for new TRAI Chairman. The government has received around 80 applications, 35 of them from retired or serving IAS Officers, as reported by Financial Express.
Among the applicants, former Telecom Secretary JS Deepak (Retd.IAS:1982:UP), former Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia (Retd.IAS:1981:GJ) and former Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma (Retd.IAS:1982:MP) are some of the noticeable names. Besides some professional candidates with a background in management and telecom have also applied.
The search-cum-seletion committee will soon shortlist and call for personal interviews. Earlier, the DoT had come out with an advertisement for the post on June 4, 2020, asking interested candidates to apply by July 10.
Since its inception in 1995, barring two chairmen, the post has always been held by a former IAS officer. Justice RS Sodhi, the first chairman and later MS Verma, former State Bank of India (SBI) chairman, have been the only two non-IAS chairman of the regulatory body so far.
The tenure of the Trai chairman is three years or 65 years of age whichever comes earlier. The Trai Act does not have a provision for extension of tenure of the chairman. However, in August 2018 when Sharma’s three-year tenure ended, the government offered him a fresh term of two-years, that is till he attained 65 years. This way, he became the first chairman to have a tenure of five years.
