250 missing files found in Lalli's office

The mystery behind over 250 missing files in Prasar Bharati has been solved. Office of now suspended Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli has returned over 200 files, which were untraceable for the past many years.

Updated on: Feb 23, 2011, 24:24:16 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The mystery behind over 250 missing files in Prasar Bharati has been solved. Office of now suspended Prasar Bharati chief executive officer (CEO) B S Lalli has returned over 200 files, which were untraceable for the past many years.

The files were returned soon after Rajiv Takru took over as acting CEO of Prasar Bharati after suspended of Lalli, following the President recommending an inquiry against him to the Supreme Court.

Among the files returned was the one regarding appointment of a senior official in Doordarshan. As per the information on the file, the Prasar Bharati never issued an appointment letter to the person despite he working in the senior position on contractual basis.

The person has now left DD and had drawn salary. The Prasar Bharati is now inquiring on how the person was appointed with requisite approval.

That is not end.

Files were also found regarding policy directions issued by past Prasar Bharati chairpersons to the then CEO Lalli. Instead, of working on them the files were kept in a cold store and no action was taken for years.

“Some of the files also relate to issues concerning the Information and Broadcasting ministry,” an official said but refused to divulge the exact details. And, no action on some of these files are now being termed as a reason for the mess created and wrangling in national broadcasting corporation.

According to the officials, the former CEO used to call the file for taking action but them dumped them in the cold storage.

V Shiva Kumar, member personnel and A K Jain, member finance, the two full time members of the board, have submitted the files related to controversial issues to the CEO office but no action was taken on them, sources said.

Last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has referred the Shunglu Committee report on the alleged irregularities in the Commonwealth Games to the Central Bureau of Investigation with regard to Lalli.

This comes in wake of the Supreme Court having asked the Central government to submit before it evidence against Lalli in alleged financial irregularities charges against him.

There is an allegation in the Rs 246 crore in the deal struck between the Prasar Bharati and UK based broadcast firm SIS Live.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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