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TELETALK LICENCE

HC orders govt to explain legality

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The High Court in a rule on the government yesterday ordered it to explain in the next eight weeks why the BTTB mobile phone licence and its transfer to Teletalk should not be declared illegal.
It also directed Teletalk Bangladesh Limited not to transfer any of its share and movable or immovable property to anyone until disposal of the rule.
The rule followed a writ petition filed yesterday with a High Court
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Division Bench by freelance journalist and telecoms consultant Abu Saeed Khan and Chief Executive Officer of Asset and Investment Management Services (AIMS) of Bangladesh Limited HM Yawer Sayeed.
They alleged that the formation of Teletalk company has been done through an unlawful process making sure that the company is owned by seven individuals who are free to transfer their shares to anyone they wish.
Teletalk poses to be a government-owned company, but its memorandum and articles of association show that it is owned by the secretary of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication; four joint secretaries of different ministries; the chairman, current charge, of Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB); and the project director of Mobile Phone Project.
The Government Servant (Conduct) rules restrict civil servants from owning such shares.
Again, according to the Companies Act, 1994 and memorandum and articles of association of Teletalk, these seven officials are free to transfer their shares to third parties and resign as directors and thereby allow the ownership and control to be transferred to any other persons without having to inform the government and the public.
The 15 respondents of the petition are Bangladesh represented by the secretary of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MoPT), Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), BTRC's chairman, vice-chairman and commissioner (legal and licensing), Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) represented by the chairman, Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd represented by its managing director, MoPT Secretary Mahmud Hasan Monsur, MoPT Joint Secretary Nuruzzaman Khan, commerce ministry Joint Secretary Mohammad Ali Patwary, Finance Division Joint Secretary Dr Mohammad Tareque, Ministry of Science and ICT Joint Secretary Mesbah-ul-Alam, BTTB Chairman (current charge) Nurul Islam, Project Director of Mobile Phone Project Mohammad Obaidullah and the registrar of the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock.
"Nowhere in the relevant records are these individuals shown as nominees of the state of Bangladesh, Government of Bangladesh, or BTTB, or in any way holding the said
shares for and on behalf of these latter," the petitioners said.
The petitioners also alleged that the cellular phone systems now under the possession of Teletalk Limited were purchased in the name of BTTB, with government or public funds. This has resulted in handing over of the public property to a few individuals with no accountability, transparency or duty of diligence to the public. It may lead to loss of a huge amount of public property and revenue, they contended.
"It is apparent and obvious that these actions have been taken with mala fide and ulterior motives to defraud the state and the public at large," the petition said and urged the court to restrain Teletalk from operating.
The petitioners noted that the BTRC issued the BTTB Cellular Mobile Phone Operator Licence in September last year violating the BTRC Regulation No 1 that demands such licences be given through a competitive bidding process. There was no bidding and this issuance was tantamount to cheating the public.
Moreover, the BTTB illegally transferred its licence to Teletalk on March 16 last, since the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act (BTA) provides no such provision for change or substitution of the name of the licencee.
The petitioners noted that the illegal operation of Teletalk misleads the general public into applying and paying for illegal services and thus enticing the public into committing illegal acts which are punishable by fines and imprisonment.
"The continued operation and carrying of business by Teletalk Bangladesh Limited would mislead its existing and potential customers into parting with their money for telecommunication system and services which may be liable to be suspended or ceased altogether, thus being detrimental and causing irreparable loss to the public at large," the petition said.
The petitioners argued that Teletalk cannot legally enter into agreements for interconnection and other mobile phone services with third parties, which means all the promises it has been making to the public about the provision of interconnection and free in-coming calls from the BTTB are false and misleading.
Barrister Nihat Kabir, Advocate MD Asaduzzaman, Barrister Shila Rahman and Barrister Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin moved for the petitioners.