MUMBAI: Chairperson of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) Justice D P Wadhava has retired. Justice Wadhava's last working day was 4 May.

There is a likelihood that the announcement of the new chairperson would be sometime next week.
 

Besides the chairman, the other members on the TDSAT bench are former secretary to the government of India Vindo Vasih and Lt Gen D P Sehgal (Retd).

Justice Wadhava joined the TDSAT bench after he completed his term as Supreme Court judge in 1997. He retired from the Supreme Court in 2000 and was later appointed as president of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in March 2001. He was given additional charge of the post of chairperson of the TDSAT on 1 January 2003.
 
 

It was under his supervision that TDSAT was established under Section 14 of the Trai Act to adjudicate matters concerning telecommunications, broadcasting issues and the FM licence dispute.

Recently, TDSAT has been flooded with petitions on the must-provide clause. The Dish TV case, which was moved by Zee Group's DTH offering against what it claimed was MTV's unwillingness to come on to its platform, came before TDSAT during Justice Wadhava's term.

The case will now be heard on 16 May under a new chairperson. Among the other issues that TDSAT is still grappling with include the FM licence fee imbroglio. TDSAT has directed the government to firm up its views on private radio FM policy by 4 July.

The Appellate Tribunal came in to existence on 29 May 2000 and started hearing cases from January 2001. Former Supreme Court judge Justice Suhas C Sen was appointed its first chairperson.