MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS,
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)
(a) Sir, total number of complaints received in TRAI against the present Telecom Service Providers are tabulated below:
<pre>
Year 2017 Year 2018 Year 2019
20522 30274 30131
</pre>
TSP wise details are enclosed at Annexure-I.
(b) to (c) TRAI Act 1997 does not envisage handling of individual consumer complaints to TRAI. As per the license conditions, any dispute relating to provision of service shall be redressed by service provider in accordance with the direction, order and regulations issued by Licenser/TRAI. In accordance with the above provisions, TRAI had laid down the framework for Redressal of grievances of telecom consumers by service providers through the Telecom Consumers Protection and Redressal of Grievances Regulations, 2012. These regulations provide for a two-tier Grievance Redrassal Mechanism viz Complaint Centre and Appellate Authority. Complaint Centre will have Toll Free Consumer Care Number for complaints and service requests. The Consumer Care Number could also be accessed from any network through an alternative number. If a consumer is not satisfied with the redressal of his complaint, or his complaint remains unaddressed or no intimation of redressal of the complaint is received within the specified period, he can approach the next tier – the Appellate Authority for redressal of his complaints. The appellate authority will have an advisory committee comprising of one member from the consumer organisation registered with TRAI and another member from the service provider. The appellate authority has to decide on every appeal within 39 days after considering the recommendations of the advisory committee. Time limits have been prescribed for redressal of complaints by the complaint centre and also appeal by the Appellate Authority.
TRAI has been monitoring the performance of service providers against the benchmark for above regulation, through Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs) submitted by service providers. The details of Consumers Redressal Report submitted by Service Providers for the Quarter ending September 2019 is enclosed as Annexure-II.
(d) In case a grievance is not redressed even after exhausting the two tier procedure as prescribed by TRAI, the complainant may approach Public Grievance wing of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), along with all documentary evidence(s) for non-redressal of grievance at concerned Service Provider level. Complainant may submit grievance in either of the following ways:
(i) By hand (ii) By post (iii) Through FAX (iv) Through phone OR (v) CPGRAMS Web portal URL://www.pgportal.gov.in
The complaints so registered in DoT are forwarded to the concerned service provider/ subordinate organizations(s) with an advise to take appropriate action in the matter and to inform the complainant regarding the action taken towards the redressal of grievance. All the complaints received in DoT are monitored in a transparent, user friendly and structured manner by DoT staff and officers. DoT also provides an option to the complainants to raise his/ her grievance through social media like twitter.
Apart from above DoT also took initiative to bring telecom consumers under the ambit of Consumer Protection Act, 2018.
Further, DoT is also considering to set-up Telecom Ombudsman for addressing the telecom consumer grievances.
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