Anil Kumar Lahoti has been appointed as the chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until he attains the age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Lahoti a 1984 batch former Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), is former chairman and chief executive officer of Railway Board. A native of Guna Madhya Pradesh, Lahoti is a civil engineer and has joined service after competing Indian Engineering Services.
According to sources, four former bureaucrats were in contention for the position TRAI chairman. Ajay Prakash Sawhney, former secretary at the ministry of technology and IT; Sanjiv Sahai, former power secretary and A K Tiwari, former member technology at the department of telecommunications were vying for the top post.
The post of TRAI has been lying vacant post retirement of PD Vaghela, who chose not to renew his term after retirement on September 30, 2023. Since then Trai member Meenakshi Gupta has been handling the additional charge of Chairman. In last six months, many regulations were stuck in absence of full fledged chairman.
The previous chairman PD Vaghela, is a Gujarat-cadre 1986-batch IAS officer, and was earlier Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals. His predecessor, R S Sharma, a Jharkhand-cadre 1978-batch IAS officer, was the IT Secretary from 2014 to 2015.
What is TRAI?
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was set up in order to have a suitable environment for the growth of the telecommunications industry in the country and be a part of the global information society. It is a statutory body and regulates the telecommunications sector in the country.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established with effect from February 20, 1997, by an Act of Parliament, called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. It was established to regulate telecom services, including fixation and revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier vested in the Central Government.
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