President okays SC probe on Prasar Bharati CEO

In what may pave the way for the removal of B S Lalli, the controversial CEO of public sector broadcaster Prasar Bharati, President Pratibha Patil has given her assent for a Supreme Court inquiry into charges of financial mismanagement against the official.

The President’s order came on a reference made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as required under the Prasar Bharati Act. According to the Act, the chairman or a member of Prasar Bharati can only be removed by an order of the President on the ground of misbehaviour after the Supreme Court holds an inquiry following a reference to it. The Act also provides for the suspension of the executive in the duration of the inquiry.

The decision comes at a time when allegations of financial irregularities are flying thick and fast in awarding a Rs 246-crore contract to UK-based SIS Live to telecast the Commonwealth Games in high-definition mode.

The Central Vigilance Commission, the country’s corruption watchdog, has indicted Lalli for financial mismanagement of Prasar Bharati and for giving undue favours to some broadcast companies.

Lalli assumed the CEO’s office in December 2006.

The 38,000 employees of Prasar Bharati had called a 48-hour duty boycott late last month to protest against the manner in which the organisation is being run. They had also raised issues about the manner in which the content was produced and telecast in the HD format during the Games, held between October 3 and 14 in Delhi.

National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees Chairman Anil Kumar S had said, “We had forwarded a proposal in February last year to procure equipment to produce the content in the HD format in India. Instead, the project to telecast the Games in HD was outsourced to SIS Live, and now that the Games are over, the equipment has been shipped off. There is no infrastructure to produce content in HD at present.”

Questions have also been raised about payments to SIS Live in violation of an earlier agreement. Initially, 30 per cent of the contract value was to be provided to the firm prior to the Games. However, when SIS Live requested that the entire amount be advanced to it, as delays before the Games were making the project financially untenable, 60 per cent of the contract value was forwarded to the company.

Officials at Doordarshan, however, confirmed that the money was given with the approval of the Host Broadcasting Management Committee.

Last month, the Supreme Court stripped Lalli of exclusive powers and directed that all day-to-day work of the public broadcaster would be managed jointly by a three-member team consisting of the chief executive officer and members (finance and personnel).