Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Dr Umar Saif said that for the first time in Pakistan’s history, a Telecommunication Appellate Tribunal has been established and its gazette notification has been issued.
President Dr Arif Alvi has also approved the amendments in the Telecom Act for establishing the tribunal.
According to the minister, the Tribunal will work under the Presidential Ordinance in the absence of parliament. He said that the establishment of the tribunal was a long-standing demand of the telecom sector and this move would provide a great relief to the industry and resolve multiple cases that were in limbo.
The minister further said that the Ministry of Law would nominate the chairman and members of the tribunal according to the ordinance. The chairman of the tribunal can only be a judge of the High Court or a lawyer with 15 years of experience. Similarly, there will be two members of the tribunal who will be technocrats, and their number can be increased or decreased according to the time.
Dr Saif said that the Tribunal will decide appeals of the telecom operators against the decisions of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) within 90 days.
It should be noted that before this, any party involved in any operational or service dispute between the PTA and the telecom operators used to approach the High Courts, resulting in unnecessary delays. The establishment of the Telecommunication Tribunal will greatly help in resolving such cases and disputes in a timely and amicable manner.
