Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal: In the order passed by S.K. Singh, Chairperson (TDSAT), on the ground of jurisdiction (forum non-conveniens), the Tribunal asked the petitioner to exercise its remedy before the appropriate forum.
The objection to the dismissed petition was raised by the respondent on the ground that the petitioner does not meet the requirement and description of service provider and the dispute does not fall within the ambit of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. The Tribunal declined to accept the contention that the petitioner is a service provider only because it is an employee or agent of the respondent.
Also, the Tribunal has jurisdiction to to solve disputes of only specialized nature i.e. between a licensee and a licensor, between two or more service providers or between a service provider and a group of consumers, out of which the petitioner is none, hence the dispute could not be adjudicated by the Tribunal. Therefore, determining the nature of the present case, the subject-matter of dispute was not within the purview of the Tribunals’ jurisdiction and thus the petition was dismissed. [Amrit Aneja v. Siti Network Ltd., Broadcasting, Petition No 429 of 2017, decided on 23-11-2017]
