P D Vaghela appointed as chairman of TRAI

NEW DELHI: The Union Government on Monday named senior bureaucrat P D Vaghela as the new Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The 1986- batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer will replace R S Sharma, who has held the post since 2015. Sharma was set to retire on September 30 this year and had been granted a two-year extension on his original three-year term in August 2018.

According to the note from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Vaghela will serve as TRAI Chairman for “three years or till he attains the age of 65”. He is currently the Secretary of the Union Government’s Department of Pharmaceuticals and was due to retire on Wednesday.