| | By Subhankar Kundu @ Monday, March 23, 2009 8:13 AM
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| | With the outspoken Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Nripendra Misra’s retirement, the coveted position is up for grabs.
 Based on the past trend of selecting the telecom secretary for the regulator’s post, the current telecom secretary, Siddartha Behura, is the front-runner for the post.
Mishra served the government as the telecom secretary before heading the regulatory body.
The other names in the race are consumer affairs secretary Yashwant Bhave, finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan, Maharashtra chief secretary Johnny Joseph and former power secretary Anil Razdan. At present, a TRAI member, A K Sawhney, is looking after the chairman’s functions for the interim period till the government-appointed committee finds a new chairman.
The government earlier formed a committee chaired by cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar to find Mishra’s successor.
The last date for sending applications was 6 March 2009. The committee has so far shortlisted 13 candidates, while it has rejected 16 applications for non-eligibility.
The government clearly stated the eligibility criteria for the chairman’s post in an advertisement published in February 2009. The applicant must have expertise in telecom and industrial matters, while knowledge of finance, accountancy, law and management are also desirable. It is not necessary for applicants to have prior experience in the government sector.
The booming telecom sector in India certainly needs a steady hand to succeed Misra, who comes from a telecom background. In his three-year stint, Misra dealt with the Department of Telecommunication’s (DoT) decisions on several telecom policies like 3G spectrum allocation, participation of foreign telcos in the 3G bid, reduction of termination charges or under utilisation of universal service obligation fund (USOF).
Misra alleged that the regulator’s recommendations were overlooked by the DoT, and clashed with the DoT over almost every decision the latter took during his tenure. X
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