 bill no 101 of  2016 the telecom regulatory authority of india (amendment) bill, 2016 byshri dushyant chautala, mpa billfurther to amend the telecom regulatory authority of india act, 1997be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement 24 of 1997amendment of section 14c52 in the telecom regulatory authority of india act, 1997, in section 14c, in clause (a)for the words "is, or has been, a judge of the supreme court or the chief justice of a high court" the words "is a judge of the supreme court or the chief justice of a high court or an advocate for at least ten years in a high court or of two or more such courts in succession" shall be substituted statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe concept of separation of powers was proposed by montesquieu in the sixteenth century and the concept of equal opportunity has been highlighted by the makers of the constitution through various provisions these two ideas are required to be incorporated in the telecom regulatory authority of india act, 1997 which provides for establishment of a telecom regulatory authority of india and telecom dispute settlement and appellate tribunal to regulate the telecommunication services, adjudicate disputes, dispose of appeals to protect the interests of service providers and consumers of telecom sectorthe executive, the legislature and the judiciary are known as the three pillars of democracy it is believed that the three should function independently without major intervention of each other and that would ensure that the respective duties are discharged in the best possible manner however, at the same time, there should be sufficient check and balance on these three wings so as to avoid one of them from becoming totalitarian in nature, in india, the check and balance system has been working effectively however, it has come to notice that some of the tribunals and commissions have exclusive provisions where retired judges of the supreme court or the high courts are being appointed by the executives this lies absolutely against the spirit of constitutiontherefore the amendment is put forth to remove the provision for appointment of retired judges as chairperson and members thus only a sitting judge of the supreme court or a high court, as the case may be, can be appointed to this post if that judge wishes to leave his office of judge voluntary and assents to join tribunalthe second part of the amendment makes provisions wherein an advocate with not less than ten years of practice becomes eligible to be appointed as the chairperson of the tribunal the rationale of such could be found in our constitution which provides appointment of advocates with certain years of practice as judge of the supreme court or a high court the same should be applied for tribunals this will facilitate the speedy disposal of the cases in front of the tribunals this shall facilitate the speedy disposal of the cases pending in tribunals because the positions in the tribunals shall not remain vacant for long this also captures the idea of providing equal opportunity to people with equal experience and eligibilitytherefore, the proposed amendment is to ensure that the doctrine of checks and balances and right to equality is maintained annexure extract from the telecom regulatory authority of india act, 1997 (act no 24 of 1997)     14c a person shall not be qualified for appointment as the chairperson or a member of the appellate tribunal unless he—(a) in the case of chairperson, is, or has been a judge of the supreme court or the chief justice of a high court;       lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the telecom regulatory authority of india act, 1997————(shri dushyant chautala, mp)gmgipmrnd—34ls(s3)—25042016