New Delhi, July 11: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has deferred the hearing on the plea on the department of telecommunications 's non-implementation of its order quashing the hike in tariff from fixed-to-cellular phones to Tuesday.

The hearing of the review petition filed by DoT for re-examining the same order was scheduled for July 14 is now to be held on July 22.

The case was deferred to give time to cellular operators and DoT to file proper verifications of affidavits in support of the petition, reply and rejoinder.

"We will take up the review matter only after we have decided the implementation case, chairman Justice S S Sodhi said.

The authority had earlier rejected the plea of the DoT's counsel for joint hearing of two cases of non-implementation of the order and the review petition filed by DoT.

The two independent issues will not be combined, vice-chairman of the authority B K Zutshi said.

Meanwhile, DoT officials maintained that the order which quashed the tariff hike and directed the department to provide two-way connectivity and multiple points of interconnect to the cell operators, had been implemented.

But they also conceded that the trickle down of its circular which had urged the chief general managers to immediately take necessary action to implement the order, may have taken some time. It asserted that the orders had been implemented.

Earlier, the central government standing counsel Sarabjit Sharma, had maintained that the order has been implemented in all circles except Kerala, where technical problems have held up implementation.

In their written submission before the authority, the cellular operators have highlighted specific cases of non-implementation in all the circles. Referring to the case filed by DoT in the high court challenging the regulator's right to arbitrate on telecom service licensing issues, sources said the authority had mixed up its functions detailed in section 11 of the Act and its adjudicatory powers under section 14.

The adjudicatory powers are limited to just a few issues, they said.It will be to the benefit of the regulator, the department and the telecom industry if a clear cut distinction is made between the powers of the authority under section 11 and section 14, sources said.