between a licensor and a licensee, between two or more service providers, between a service provider and a group of consumers and also to hear and dispose of appeal against any direction, decision or order of the Authority. The aforesaid provision was absolutely essential as the organizations of the licensor namely MTNL and the BSNL were laso service providers. That being the object for which an independent tribunal was constituted, the power of that tribunal has to be adjudged from the language conferring that power and it would not be appropriate to restrict the same on the ground that the decision which is the subject matter of challenge before the tribunal was that of an expert body. It is no doubt true, to which we will advert later, that the composition of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India as well as the constitution of GOT-IT in April,2001 consists of large number of eminent impartial experts and it is on their advice, the Prime Minister finally took the decision, but that would not in any way restrict the power of the appellate tribunal under Section 14, even though in the matter of appreciation though the tribunal would give due weight to such expert advice and recommendations. Having regard to the very purpose and object for which the appellate tribunal was constituted and having examined the different provisions contained in Chapter IV, more particularly the provision dealing with ousting the jurisdiction of Civil Court in relation to any matter which the appellate tribunal is empowered by or under the Act, as contained in Section 15, we have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the power of Appellate Tribunal is quite wide, as has been indicated in the statute itself and the decisions of this Court dealing with the power of a Court, exercising appellate power or original power, will have no application for limiting the jurisdiction of the appellate tribunal under the Act. Since the tribunal is the original authority to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee or between two or more service providers or between a service provider and a group of consumers and since the tribunal has to hear and dispose of appeals against the directions, decisions or order of the TRAI, it is difficult for us to import the self-contained restrictions and limitations of a Court under the Judge made law to which reference has already been made and reliance was placed by the learned Attorney General. By saying so, we may not be understood to mean that the appellate tribunal while exercising power under Section 14 of the Act, will not give due weight to the recommendations or the decisions of the expert body like TRAI or in the case in hand GOT-IT, which was specifically constituted by the Prime Minister for redressing the grievances of the cellular operators. We would, therefore, answer the question of jurisdiction of the appellate tribunal by holding that the said tribunal has the power to adjudicate any dispute between the persons enumerated in clause (a) of Section 14 and if the dispute is in relation to a decision taken by the government, as in the case in hand, due weight has to be attached both to the recommendations of the TRAI which consists of an expert body as well as to the recommendations of the GOT-IT, a committee of eminent experts from different fields of life which had been constituted by the Prime Minister.”
