The Department of Telecom (DoT) has reportedly extended the deadline for accepting public comments on the Draft Telecom Bill. As per latest updates, the general public and stakeholders can now submit their comments towards the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 till November 20.
The official statement from Ministry of Communications reads, “The draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, along with an Explanatory Note, was released by this Ministry on DoT’s website on 21st September 2022. Comments from general public, various stakeholders and industry associations were sought by 10th November, 2022. In response to the requests received from several stakeholders, the Ministry has decided to further extend the last date for receipt of comments till 20th November, 2022.”
With this announcement, the DoT has extended this deadline for another time, as before this, the deadline was extended till October 30 and November 10.
As per an ANI report, so far, a bill (in this case the draft telecom bill), has never been discussed in a Committee, before it is introduced in the Parliament. This is with regards to the IT panel’s first meeting and the agenda for discussion being this Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022.
Since the bill is currently in its draft stage, a lot of changes are expected in the coming days. Till now, this draft Telecom bill aims to amend the TRAI Act, 1997 in order to remove the requirement for the central government to seek recommendations from TRAI on all issues concerning licensing. While this proposal raised many eyebrows, it is still being considered.
