Report on functioning of Prasar Bharati sent to PM: Soni

Information and Broadcasting ministry has sent a detailed report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the functioning of Prasar Bharati amid reports of differences between its board members and the CEO, and that the government is planning to scrap the Board.     

"After there were reports in the media and court cases, we felt there is a need for finetuning Prasar Bharati. We sent our officials to various Doordarshan Kendras and also spoke to the CEO B S Lalli. Based on these inputs, we have sent a detailed report on the functioning of the public broadcaster to the PM. We are awaiting his orders on the matter," Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni told reporters here today.     

The minister said she had decided to send the report on Prasar Bharati to the PM as it has been formed through an Act of Parliament and therefore the ministry cannot intervene directly in its affairs.     

Soni's comments came in the light of speculation that the ministry is planning to bring an ordinance to scrap Prasar Bharati's board as it was reportedly not able to function properly due to differences between its members and the CEO.     

Reliable sources in the ministry said though it has sought law ministry's opinion on how to deal with the issue, it is still awaiting its response.     

"It would be very difficult to comment now on what step we will take regarding this issue," the sources said when asked whether the ministry would go for the ordinance route for scrapping the public broadcaster's board.

Meanwhile, sources in the Law Ministry said that it has suggested to the I&B ministry that if it feels things are really bad within Prasar Bharati, then it can strip the board of its powers.        

Law ministry sources also said that if an ordinance is required for the purpose, it is up to the I&B ministry to act in this regard.