Prasar Bharti panel to fix blame

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has set up a Special Empowered Committee headed by chairperson Mrinal Pande to fix blame for the lapses pointed out by the Shunglu Committee.

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has set up a Special Empowered Committee headed by chairperson Mrinal Pande to fix blame for the lapses pointed out by the Shunglu Committee.

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In its meeting held on Thursday, the committee asked Pande and nominated member, Muzaffar Ali to “take stern steps to address the causes of failures and pinpoint responsibility. Its primary aim will be to restore the morale of the Prasar Bharati employees as also its public image.”

The VK Shunglu Committee had indicted suspended CEO, BS Lalli and Doordarshan director general Aruna Sharma and recommended registration of a criminal case for financial irregularities in the award of broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games.

Member Finance, AK Jain who had earlier questioned the appointment of I and B Ministry additional secretary Rajiv Takru as acting CEO after BS Lalli’s supension, did not attend. Responding to queries that Jain was protesting Takru’s appointment a board member told Hindustan Times “his official reason was that he was unwell.” Jain could not be reached for comment.

The board, however, set up a special committee to deal with financial procedures and accounting systems. Jain in absentia has been directed to expedite setting in place a system as the board was unappy with the financial processes and accounting systems.

The Prasar Bharati board, meanwhile, decided that qualified chartered accountants would be hired at the earliest for internal audits, following which further steps would be decided.

SIS-Zoom contradict Shunglu report

United Kingdom-based company SIS Live and its Indian collaborator Zoom have separately issued statements contradicting Shunglu Committee report findings. SIS denied any wrongdoing and said the panel did not contact it.

It said it had made a profit of only half a percent and “would have been happy to cooperate in any reasonable way in order to ensure that the report was based on facts and produced in a balanced fashion.”

Zoom Communication found fault with the revenue figures as estimated by the Shunglu Committee.