Current Affairs:Rahul Khullar appointed TRAI chairman

Commerce Secretary, Rahul Khullar has been appointed as the chairman
of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) with immediate
effect. Mr. Khullar, a 1975-batch IAS, will take over from J.S. Sarma
who demits office on Sunday.

Mr. Khullar's appointment was cleared by the Prime Minister, Manmohan
Singh paving way for his formal appointment. He will have a three-year
term as TRAI chairman and will take charge on Monday.

Mr. Khullar, who was previously the Commerce Secretary, takes over as
the TRAI chief at a time when the whole telecom industry has been
fiercely protesting against the recent proposal of the telecom
regulator on the auctioning of the 2G spectrum.TRAI's recommendations
came following the Supreme Court's February 2 judgement where it
cancelled 122 licenses belonging to nine telecom companies and told
the government to redistribute them through a first come, first served
allocation methodology.

It is learnt that government has sought certain clarifications from
TRAi on its recommendations for which a detailed response is being
drafted. The telecom watchdog is expected to send its reply on
clarifications later on Sunday.

Mr. Khullar was personal secretary to Dr. Singh as the Finance
Minister in 1991 Narsimha Rao Government when the economic reforms
were unleashed in India.