Information and Broadcasting Ministry has sent a note proposing amendments to the Prasar Bharati Act which will considerably curtail the powers of the CEO of the public broadcaster.

"The need to amend the Act had been felt after the Shunglu Committee pointed to irregularities during the tenure of former CEO B S Lalli. A Group of Ministers had recommended that the Act be modified and the relations between the ministry and Prasar Bharati be relooked," a top official said.

As per the amendments, the process of removal of the Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati will be made less tougher.

"A board which would consist of the office of the Vice President, the Chairperson of Press council of India and the Minister of Information and Broadcasting would have the powers to appoint and also remove the Prasar Bharati CEO," the official said.

As per the present Act, the Prasar Bharati CEO cannot be removed without the consent of the President and the Supreme Court, the official said.

After the amendments, "grounds of inefficiency" would also be included as a reason for which the CEO could be removed, the official said.

Another amendment the ministry proposes is to reduce the eligibility age of the Prasar Bharati board members to 55 years from the current 62. "The idea is to get in more young blood", the official said adding the minimum age for the Chairperson and the CEO have been kept intact as per the previous act.

The members will now have a tenure of 3 years unlike the 6-year tenure proposed earlier, the official said.

"The Prasar Bharati Act was drafted in 1988 and notified in 1997. That was a period when Doordarshan had a complete monopoly. Now, the circumstances have changed. Government does not have monopoly over news and so the Act has to be amended," said the official.

Sources said since the post of the CEO of Prasar Bharati is vacant at the moment, there is a view in the ministry that the amendments be carried as soon as possible.

"It is likely that these amendments will be made through an ordinance," said an official source.
 

|||||| Thank you for your interest.||||||