NEW INDIA: Arbitration proceedings by British production house SIS Live for recovery of amounts withheld by Prasar Bharati for breach of the contractual provisions relating to coverage of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 are still continuing.

Prasar Bharati had encashed the bank guarantee amounting to Rs 246 million and withheld a sum of Rs 70.80 million against services provided for Rights Holding Broadcasters.

Prasar Bharati has also withheld a sum of Rs 984 million (40 per cent of the contract value of the contract awarded to SIS Live for Rs 2.46 billion) on account of various disputes.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that the arbitral proceedings are still going on. The arbitration has been invoked by SIS Live under clause 8.2 of the contract with Prasar Bharati.

SIS Live had recently expressed relief recently at the reported move by the Central Bureau of Investigation to seek closure of the investigation against award to it of coverage of the Commonwealth Games.

The High Level V K Shunglu Committee had concluded that SIS Live that were estimated at below Rs One billion, but Prasar Bharati had already paid Rs 1.476 billion up to October 2010.

Interestingly even as the CBI had begun its investigation, the Central Vigilance Officer of Prasar Bharati had also commenced investigations. Following an objection by CBI that these would interfere with the investigating agency?s work, the Ministry directed the CVO to stop investigation on all sixteen issues listed by the Shunglu Committee except one which related to customisation of services, on which the CVO has already submitted a report.

The Ministry had in March last year cleared action in the matter of irregularities of award of contract to SIS Live by then Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer Baljit Singh Lalli (who was later suspended on corruption charges in other cases).

It had been stated that the award of broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games reportedly resulting in loss of Rs 1.35 million. The Shunglu Committee in its report said ?undue benefits? were provided to SIS Live and Zoom Communications.

Lalli along with former Doordarshan Director-General Aruna Sharma were named by the V K Shunglu Committee in the first of its reports to the Commonwealth Games held in the Capital in October 2010.

No sanction was given for prosecution of Sharma in view of an explanation given by her earlier and another detailed note sought from her by the Ministry. It is learnt that she has been asked to submit the note within one week. Sharma had later been reverted to her home state Madhya Pradesh following completion of her term in Doordarshan.

NEW DELHI: With the official term of suspended Prasar Bharati chief executive officer BS Lalli having come to an end, the three-member selection panel is expected to meet this week to select his successor for the next five years.

Under the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990, a committee headed by the Vice President, with the Chairman of the Press Council and a nominee of the President as members, has the powers to appoint the Prasar Bharati chairman or CEO.

Although no names have been disclosed, Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com that Jawahar Sircar, secretary in the culture ministry, presently heads the list of aspirants.

During the recent discussion on the Prasar Bharati (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni had said that delay had been because the committee had not met, but officials said that Lalli had been suspended and not removed, and therefore a full time CEO could not be appointed as he was still on the rolls.

Lalli was due to retire on 28 December with his five-year tenure getting over. He was suspended after the Shunglu Committee report indicted him for irregularities in the broadcast contract of the Commonwealth Games. A CBI probe was also launched into the matter.

I&B Additional Secretary Rajiv Takru had been functioning as acting CEO since January last year.

Sources said seeking the Presidential reference to the Supreme Court for removal of Lalli would have taken a long time and therefore it had been considered wiser to wait till his term got over.

The Ministry has already confirmed that it is in favour of changing the appointment and removal procedure of the CEO and to curtail his powers.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that while permission was needed for the Central Bureau of Investigation to proceed against Lalli, no such permission is needed for any CBI action against former Doordarshan Director General Aruna Sharma since she is no longer in service with the Union Government has she has been reverted to her home cadre.

NEW DELHI: Even if the year 2011 is coming to a close, the unravelling of the scams surrounding the Commonwealth Games 2010 is nowhere close to coming to an end.

Even a year after the Games got over, a Parliamentary Committee "deeply concerned about the controversy" says it is clear that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry seems to be in dilemma about the actual loss on account of broadcasting rights.

What is more, the Standing Committee for Communication and Information Technology notes that neither the I&B Ministry nor Prasar Bharati were aware that SIS Live, United Kingdom, had outsourced the coverage and production to Zoom Communications and this fact came to their notice at "a later stage".

The Standing Committee was also "surprised to note the opinion given by the Law Ministry that the sub-contract was not in violation of the clause which existed between Prasar Bharati and SIS Live."

The Committee also note that "the Ministry have justified the selection process as well as the cost estimates" of the award of work for Production and Coverage facilities for the Games to SIS Live, UK, for Rs 2.46 billion. "The representative of the Ministry informed the Committee that a transparent process was followed in the award of contract and the Ministry was quite satisfied that there was no shortcoming while giving its approval."

"Although the basis for calculating the amount is not known to the Standing Committee, yet it raises a serious question mark about the reasonableness of the rate quoted by the selected firm," the Committee says.

But the Committee says that "the fact remains that the contract which SIS Live got from Prasar Bharati for Rs 2.46 billion was outsourced by the entity to Zoom Communications for Rs 1.77 billion. The High Level Committee constituted by the Government under VK Shunglu has estimated the work below Rs 1 billion."

The Standing Committee has said "the Secretary during the course of oral evidence before the Committee initially stated that the cost was excessive but subsequently justified the cost estimate as the same figure that was arrived at by a Committee constituted by the Ministry."

The Committee has urged the Government for an early decision in the matter. It has noted that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting an investigation in this regard.
"The Committee desire that the alleged irregularities in the award of work for Production and Coverage facilities may be scrupulously probed by the investigating agency and the report submitted to the Government at the earliest. The recommendations of the Group of Ministers (on the Shunglu Committee report) and the findings of CBI along with the action taken by the Ministry in this regard should be communicated to the Committee."

It has taken note of the fact that the Shunglu Committee report of January 2011 was submitted to the Group of Ministers (GoM) on 24 March 2011, while also noting that Prasar Bharati CEO BS Lalli was suspended and Doordarshan Director-General Aruna Sharma repatriated to her cadre after seeking their explanations, apart from the CBI being permitted to conduct an inquiry.

Prasar Bharati realised gross revenue of Rs 604.8 million through commercial advertisements during the Games held from 3 to 14 October last year.