Lalli has been involved in a running feud with almost the entire Prasar Bharati Board — as first reported by The Indian Express — for over two years now, with several Board members making a series of allegations against the CEO.

         The investigations by the CVC, which went over 100 files and statements of nine officers, have corroborated many of these allegations.

        For example, the CVC has has severely reprimanded the Prasar Bharati for in the manner in which private broadcasters were allowed to revise their offers for revenue management contract of five cricket series involving India in 2007, after the initial sealed bids had been opened.

        Prasar Bharati was the highest bidder in four out of these five bids, but the competitor, Nimbus in each case, was allowed to revise its bid. Nimbus then offered the next permissible higher bid and was given the contract.

        “The facts indicate that an incorrect and unauthorised procedure was adopted” in the bidding process, the CVC has said in its report.

         The CVC has also said that the initial bids offered by Prasar Bharati were deliberately kept lower so that the private broadcaster would have to shell out lesser money in bettering it. For example, while the revenue offered during the India-England series in 2006 was Rs 50 crore, Prasar Bharati bid only Rs 9.9 crore for the India-England series in 2007. ESPN walked away with the contract with just Rs 13.8 crore.

        The most damning of the revelations probably relates to the non-telecast of the inaugural T-20 World Cup — a tournament that India went on to win — by Doordarshan. The telecast rights for that tournament were with ESPN. But India has a law — the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing) Act — that makes it mandatory for every private broadcaster to share its feed with Prasar Bharati while telecasting sporting events of national importance.

       The CVC report notes that instead of making ESPN share its feed with Doordarshan, the Prasar Bharati CEO was — without justification — guided by a note of the private secretary to the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting that said that since T-20 was not proper cricket, Prasar Bharati should not waste its prime time telecasting it.

      “If Prasar Bharati had really acted according to the directions of the (I&B) Ministry (note from PS to Minister I&B) then this direction should have been placed before Parliament as per the Prasar Bharati Act. By not doing so, Prasar Bharati is also culpable of breach of parliamentary privilege,” the CVC report said. It said the CEO, Prasar Bharati, was “primarily responsible for the violation of rules”.

      “The decision regarding the sharing of telecast by Doordarshan was delayed by CEO, Prasar Bharati, by engaging in unwarranted correspondence and clarifications, by which time the World Cup tournament had already commenced. This was despite obtaining a clear legal opinion that T-20 cricket should be considered a sporting event of national importance,” the CVC said.

         The CVC also found fault with the CEO’s decisions with regard to the purchase of radio rights for telecast of some cricket matches, the “unjustifiably high rates” paid to private lawyers while Prasar Bharati had its own panel of advocates, and in spending large amounts of money in arranging transport and accommodation facilities for its officials during the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 2008.