ITV

Tag: Law ministry

  • Sam Pitroda report on Prasar Bharati revamp caught in legal wrangles

    NEW DELHI: Not only has minimal action been taken on the Sam Pitroda Committee report of February 2014 to revitalise Prasar Bharati, the Department of Expenditure has expressed its inability to undertake the work of man power audit despite assurances in reply to several questions in the Parliament.

    Little or no action on manpower audit

    A Parliamentary Committee has now recommended that the terms for reference for conduct of manpower audit be worked out and the manpower audit which is critical to both All India Radio and Doordarshan completed within the current financial year 2017-18 as assured to the Committee.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which also examines issues relating to Information and Broadcasting Ministry has noted that the Ministry had asked Prasar Bharati to prepare an action plan on the 26 recommendations of the Sam Pitroda Committee.

    The Parliamentary Committee has expressed concern that ‘there is no progress in the  on the issue of man power audit’.

    When Prasar Bharati was suggested to explore the feasibility of manpower audit through some reputed public/private agencies, the Internal Finance Division advised for pre-determination of terms of reference for conduct of manpower audit before inviting quotations from reputed audit organization.

    But the Committee noted that Prasar Bharati was yet to take a decision in the matter.

    “The Committee need not emphasise that manpower related issues have time and again affected the efficiency and performance of the organization. Prasar Bharati in order to achieve its vision and compete with private broadcasters needs to attract, retain and develop talent in the organization. It needs to respond to changing market conditions and make an assessment of its manpower requirement to overcome the competency gaps”, the Committee said.

    Transfer of AIR, DD assets to Prasar Bharati held up by legal wrangles

    Furthermore, Prasar Bharati has not provided complete inventorisation of assets with regard to the recommendation of transfer of assets. The Parliamentary Committee noted that the Ministry had advised Prasar Bharati to complete inventorisation of assets.

    The Ministry has recommended that the Law Ministry propose to issue notification whereby all the movable assets of AIR/DD may be transferred to Prasar Bharati on lease basis/non-alienable basis and all movable assets are so transferred without any restriction on availability or disposal.

    The Law Ministry’s Legislative Department has suggested that properties vested with the Central Government already stands transferred to Prasar Bharati with the commencement of the Prasar Bharati Act 1997 and there is no enabling provision to issue a notification for transfer of properties and assets which will dilute the provision of the Act.

    However, the Central Government may determine the terms and conditions of transfer of properties and assets which can be set by issue of an executive order.

    The Ministry has informed that the terms and conditions of transfer of properties and assets are being finalized in consultation with Department of Legal Affairs.

    The Committee is of the view that once Prasar Bharati owns its assets, it can go for selective monetisation of idle assets and generate much needed revenue. The Committee has recommended to the I and B Ministry to complete the exercise in a time bound manner and apprise them of the progress in the matter.

     

  • Committee set up to monitor Government advertisements in accordance with Supreme Court directions

    Committee set up to monitor Government advertisements in accordance with Supreme Court directions

    NEW DELHI: A three-member committee headed by former chief election commissioner B.B. Tandon is to address issues related to Content Regulation in government advertising.

    The Information & Broadcasting ministry has set up the committee in compliance with the Supreme Court directions dated 13 May 2015 and the other members are News Broadcasters Association President and the editor-in-chief of India TV Rajat Sharma, and Ogilvy & Mather executive chairman and creative director, South Asia Piyush Pandey.

    The three member committee was selected by a three member panel constituted by ministry after obtaining advice from the Law ministry. The selection panel for constitution of the committee was headed by Press Council of India chairman Chandramauli Kumar Prasad.

    The terms of reference of the committee has been prepared by the I&B ministry in consultation with the Law ministry which includes the structure, functions and powers, duties and responsibilities of the committee. The Supreme Court had given the direction for ironing out the creases that are bound to show from time to time in implementation of the judgement of the apex court on Content Regulation of Government Advertising.

    Under the terms of reference, the committee would address complaints from the general public of violation on the implementation of the guidelines set out by the Supreme Court.

    The committee would also take suo motu cognizance of any violation / deviation of the guidelines of the Supreme Court and recommend corrective action to the ministry /department.

    The committee may recommend suitable changes to the Supreme Court guidelines to deal with new circumstances and situations that may arise from time to time, without making major policy changes within the policy direction of Supreme Court. The committee shall not be bound by any legal rules of evidence and may follow such procedure that appears to it to be fair and proper for swift settlement of grievances. For all decisions of the committee, the view of majority would prevail.

    The tenure of the members would be initially for a period of two years which shall be extendable by one year at a time, but overall extension should not be more than two times. The committee would be operational from Delhi and the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity would facilitate day to day functioning of the committee.

  • Committee set up to monitor Government advertisements in accordance with Supreme Court directions

    Committee set up to monitor Government advertisements in accordance with Supreme Court directions

    NEW DELHI: A three-member committee headed by former chief election commissioner B.B. Tandon is to address issues related to Content Regulation in government advertising.

    The Information & Broadcasting ministry has set up the committee in compliance with the Supreme Court directions dated 13 May 2015 and the other members are News Broadcasters Association President and the editor-in-chief of India TV Rajat Sharma, and Ogilvy & Mather executive chairman and creative director, South Asia Piyush Pandey.

    The three member committee was selected by a three member panel constituted by ministry after obtaining advice from the Law ministry. The selection panel for constitution of the committee was headed by Press Council of India chairman Chandramauli Kumar Prasad.

    The terms of reference of the committee has been prepared by the I&B ministry in consultation with the Law ministry which includes the structure, functions and powers, duties and responsibilities of the committee. The Supreme Court had given the direction for ironing out the creases that are bound to show from time to time in implementation of the judgement of the apex court on Content Regulation of Government Advertising.

    Under the terms of reference, the committee would address complaints from the general public of violation on the implementation of the guidelines set out by the Supreme Court.

    The committee would also take suo motu cognizance of any violation / deviation of the guidelines of the Supreme Court and recommend corrective action to the ministry /department.

    The committee may recommend suitable changes to the Supreme Court guidelines to deal with new circumstances and situations that may arise from time to time, without making major policy changes within the policy direction of Supreme Court. The committee shall not be bound by any legal rules of evidence and may follow such procedure that appears to it to be fair and proper for swift settlement of grievances. For all decisions of the committee, the view of majority would prevail.

    The tenure of the members would be initially for a period of two years which shall be extendable by one year at a time, but overall extension should not be more than two times. The committee would be operational from Delhi and the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity would facilitate day to day functioning of the committee.

  • I&B Ministry awaits Law Ministry’s opinion on DAS Phase III stay orders

    I&B Ministry awaits Law Ministry’s opinion on DAS Phase III stay orders

    NEW DELHI: Even as High Courts across different Indian states continue to issue extension of the Digital Addressable System (DAS) Phase III deadline beyond 31 December, 2015, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is still waiting for the Law Ministry to respond to the file on the issue.

     

    However, as was first reported by Indiantelevision.com, I&B Secretary Sunil Arora had confirmed that the Ministry will move the Supreme Court and file an application for clubbing the various orders in different High Courts, which ordered an extension of the deadline.

     

    That said, it was not immediately clear whether this would be a fresh appeal, or would be in the form of an appeal against one of the High Court orders with an additional request that since other matters are similar, they could also be heard at the same time.

     

    This decision came as a disappointment to many multi system operators (MSOs) in other states who said that they would find it very difficult to come to Delhi to fight the case or pay the high fee charges by Supreme Court advocates for this purpose.

     

    Several rounds of discussions have been held internally as well as with officials of the Law Ministry and legal experts over the past few days before coming to this decision, to thwart the snowballing effect of the orders that commenced from Hyderabad and found a boost in the arguments in the Bombay High Court based on the Kusum Ingots case of 2004, which encouraged MSOs and local cable operators (LCOs) in other states.

     

    While the Kerala and Karnataka High Courts are to hear petitions early next week, the implementation remains stayed for varying periods in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Sikkim, and Telangana, apart from Tamil Nadu where prolonged legal cases have been pending since Phase I.

     

    Adding to its woes, I&B Minister Arun Jaitley has received a letter from the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu seeking a six-month extension for the 800+ MSOs and 9000+ LCOs across 13 districts serving 1.3 million households in the state. 

     

    Reacting to this, an official of the I&B Ministry said that these High Courts orders would have no effect on the Government decision to stick to its date of 31 December, 2015 and it had asked broadcasters and MSOs to switch off analogue signals in all areas covered under Phase III, which was aimed at the remaining urban areas except where certain states sought exemption.

     

    The official also said that the Courts were generally following the logic given before the Bombay High Court whereby the Supreme Court had said in the Kusum Ingots case that if one High Court gives an order, others can give similar orders if the circumstances are similar. In this case, the petitioners had sought to say in all the cases that there was a shortage of set top boxes (STBs), which belied the figures received by the Government, the official added.

     

    There was also general consensus in the Ministry that this was the right course as the apex court had on an earlier occasion relating to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and orders issued thereunder that High Courts have to be cautious when giving orders on matters relating to policy.  

       

    While the Ministry would prepare to file its counters in all the High Courts, the Ministry official also said it was working on how plans to thwart the implementation of Phase III could be prevented – if necessary through legislative processes.

     

    The Government feels that the cases would in fact work against the last mile operator (LMO) and benefit the direct to home (DTH) and Headend In the Sky (HITS) players.

     

    Sources said that they had evidence to show seeding of STBs to the extent of 76 per cent as revealed in the 13th Task Force meeting on 30 December. 

     

    Broadcasters and channel distributors feel any extension would only lead to delays in all fields of digitisation including a further delay in not just the Phase III and Phase IV (slated for December 2016) but also pockets of Phase I and Phase II, which have still not implemented digital addressable systems.

     

    At the same time, stakeholders agree that there is a shortage of STBs and just one or two players are making local boxes despite the ‘Make in India’ campaign, and the government had to be make some relaxations in the budget in this regard.