Convergence Bill ‘vague’: Duggal

Our eFE Bureau in Mumbai

The proposed Convergence Bill is not a radical departure from previous drafts and the Bill was “nothing but a reiteration of the tendencies of the government to regulate the convergence industry.”

Putting up this view, Supreme Court lawyer Pavan Duggal said there were many aspects of the Bill which still remained vague.

The Bill and its implications were in focus at Telecom India 2001, the three-day seminar being held in Mumbai.

The proposed Bill, while regulating convergence, had not defined the word in its definitional clause, Mr Duggal observed.

“The proposed law seeks to repeal five different existing legislations,” said Mr Duggal. Among these are the Indian telegraph Act of 1885, The Indian Wireless Telegraph Act of 1931 and The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act of 1987. Mr Duggal said the Bill proposed to establish the Communications Commission of India (CCI).

“This will be the super regulator in India in the context of convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, data communication, multi-media and other related technologies and services,” he added.

The CCI, according to Mr Duggal, would be empowered to grant licenses in five different categories. “This will be for network infrastructure, networking services, network application services and content application services, besides Internet services,” he said.

The CCI, Mr Duggal believes, would not work in an autonomous manner. “It provides for immense control of the government and runs contrary to the objects of the proposed Bill,” he said.

Mr Duggal was also critical of the way members of the CCI were to be appointed. “It is at the subjective discretion of the government, in terms of deciding who the members will be,” he concluded.