The Union government on Thursday extended the term of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman R.S. Sharma till September 2020. His term was to end this week. As per the government notification, he will remain in post till September 30, 2020, when he turns 65.
Recently, Mr Sharma hogged the headlines when he threw a controversial challenge to hack his Aadhaar by publicly disclosing his Aadhaar number on Twitter. Mr Sharma, who once headed the country’s ambitious Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which executes the Aadhaar programme, insisted that no harm was caused to him by those who are sceptical of Aadhaar programme and its collection of biometric data of citizens.
However, in an oblique dig at one of the top regulators in the country, the UIDAI asked the citizens to not disclose their Aadhaar number as it was contravention of the law.
The notification extending his term was issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared his extension.
Interestingly, former Commerce Secretary Rita Teotia, a Gujarat cadre IAS who superannuated in July this year, was said to be a front runner for the post. She had worked as additional secretary, Telecom.
Published - August 09, 2018 05:32 pm IST
