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The Apex Court has put a stay on a recent order by the broadcast tribunal Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) which directed to keep the commercial establishments outside the purview of cable price regulation.

The bench passing the stay on the TDSAT order comprised of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justice K S Radhakrishnan.

While announcing the stay Supreme Court (SC) said, "You cannot treat everyone on par... Until further direction TDSAT order is stayed.”

The order passed by TDSAT on May 28, 2010 relates to a notification by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued in November 2006. In its notification TRAI had kept luxury and heritage hotels out of the purview of price regulations for cable tariffs.

TDSAT thereafter had directed TRAI to reconsider the case of commercial establishments in a broad-based manner as these establishments cannot be left to negotiate on their own with respective broadcasters for their cable tariff.

The directive by TRAI was also challenged by the Hotel Association of India and Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India as it allowed the broadcasters to charge them higher tariffs compared to regulator's ceiling for general consumers.

The current stay by SC comes in wake of a petition filed by ESPN Software India with the apex court against TDSAT’s order that prevents them from charging higher tariffs from commercial establishments. The petition said that TDSAT did not give any timeframe to TRAI to relook its policy.