After having secured an opinion from the Law Ministry that there were no legal hurdles, the government has begun the process to select a new chief executive officer (CEO) for Prasar Bharati to succeed B S Lalli, the suspended CEO whose five-year term ended last week on December 28.

I&B Minister Ambika Soni met Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Thursday (05-01-12)and discussed the issue informally with him to set the ball rolling on getting a full-time CEO for Prasar Bharati, which has been headless for the past one year since Lalli was suspended on December 21, 2010. The Vice-President heads the three-member committee including the Press Council chief (Justice Markandeya Katju) and a representative of the Central government (I&B Minister Ambika Soni) to select the PB head. At present, Rajiv Takru, an additional secretary rank officer in the I&B Ministry, has been made acting CEO of the organisation.

Lalli was suspended after the Shunglu committee report indicted him for irregularities in the broadcast contract of the Commonwealth Games. A CBI probe is underway in this connection.

Several senior serving as well as retired bureaucrats, according to sources, have already thrown their hats into the ring for the post, carrying a five-year term. These include former I&B secretary Raghu Menon, former civil aviation secretary Madhavan Nambiar, former Punjab government official Damanbir Singh Jaspal, present culture secretary Jawahar Sircar and 1978 batch R C Mishra, who currently heads the EPFO in the Labour Ministry.

Government sources said before initiating the process, the Law Ministry’s opinion was sought on whether the exercise could pose any legal hurdles given that Lalli had not been removed from the post of CEO but only suspended. The Law Ministry, it is learnt, gave the green signal asserting that the Prasar Bharati Act makes it clear that the upper age limit for a CEO is 65 years and Lalli has crossed it. It, however, advised the I&B Ministry to intimate the Supreme Court, which was done on December 30.

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