TRAI chief RS Sharma
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief Ram Sewak Sharma was given two-year extension on Thursday, a day before his term was to end, according to an official order.
His tenure saw major decisions on matters like termination charges and predatory pricing.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved reappointment of Sharma as chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a further period beyond August 10, 2018 up to September 30, 2020, i.e. the date on which he attains the age of 65 years, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said, reported news agency PTI.
Some of the decisions by the TRAI, ranging from slashing of call-connect charges to its stance on the provision of points of interconnect (sought by Reliance Jio at the start of its services), and predatory pricing rules have come under the industry's attack. Earlier this year, TRAI's predatory pricing norms sparked-off a furore as old telecom operators and industry association criticised the new rules, news agency further reported.
In July 2015, Sharma was named as the TRAI chief for a three-year period. Sharma is a 1982 batch (retired) IAS officer. He was from Jharkhand cadre.
He, recently, revealed his Aadhaar number on Twitter and challenged people to show how mere knowledge of the 12-digit unique number could be used to harm him.
However, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues Aadhaar, had afterward asked people not to share their Aadhaar number publicly. UIDAI also requested people not to pose such challenges to others.
