NEW DELHI: A three-member Fact Finding Team headed by Rajeev Ranjan Nag has been set up by the Press Council of India to investigate complaints by journalists in Bihar who told Council Chairman Justice Markandey Katju that they were facing difficulties in discharging their duties.

During a recent visit to Bihar, the Chairman had been told that journalists fear harassment and losing their job as authorities put pressure on the proprietors to do so.

Parliament was informed by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting C M Jatua today that the team would visit Patna and main district headquarters in the first four days of next month.

Justice Katju had last month stated that he had heard the Press is under pressure and had announced he would be sending a fact finding team to inquire about the status of media?s freedom.

Interestingly, an RTI activist was told by the government that Rs 280 million was spent by the government in media advertisements while it was much less than during Lalu Prasad led RJD government.

The Council had set up a similar fact finding commission which visited Bihar in the mid-eighties, and came back with the view that there was a mafia with the media in Bihar that did not let the other media persons go about their work.

NEW DELHI: Tripurari Sharan, a senior Indian Administrative Officer who is presently serving in his home state Bihar, is to be the new Director General of Doordarshan.

Sharan is being posted on deputation in Doordarshan for five years. Informed sources expressed surprise since the normal tenure is three years.

Sharan, presently Principal Secretary for the Food Department in Bihar, is an IAS officer of the 1985 batch.
He has earlier served as Director of the Film and Television Institute of India, during which time he had directed a feature film ‘Woh subah kidhar nikal gayi‘ produced under the auspices of the Institute.

After interviews held on 15 March, the Prasar Bharati Board had prepared a shortlist of three persons for Doordarshan and two persons for All India Radio for the post of Director-General.

According to the procedure, this list was sent to the Ministry which was expected to forward it to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for selecting the Directors-General of the public service broadcasters. 

The names suggested after extensive interviews by the Board on 15 March - in that order - were L D Mandloi, Tripurari Sharan (1985, IAS, Bihar), and Ramsubhag Singh (1987, IAS, Himachal Pradesh) for the post of DG Doordarshan, while G Jayalal and L D Mandloi were shortlisted for the post of DG AIR.

The meeting had been presided over by Prasar Bharati Chairperson Mrinal Pandey and attended by eight other members including Rajiv Takru, Additional Secretary of the Ministry and nominated member in the Board who is currently holding charge as CEO.

While Sharan‘s name was third on the list for DD, it has been alleged by the Doordarshan Empanelled Producers Association that this order was changed following oral communication from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and all Board members were asked to sign afresh on the new order of preference.

A majority of the members agreed with the new list but reduced the number of persons to just two. While five of the nine members including the Chairperson and Takru approved this new order of preference, three members removed the name of Ram Subhag Singh in the DD list. The ninth member insisted on sticking to the original order of preference, though he also removed the name of Singh.

In the case of All India Radio, the appointment of DG has been held up as at least one of the persons shortlisted - Jiyalal - has gone to the Central Administrative Tribunal, which has since reserved its orders after hearing both sides.

It may be recalled that the Delhi High Court had in 2008 said Mandloi - who has been asked to hold additional charge more that three times as DG - was qualified to be Director General of Doordarshan.

It is interesting that this comes close on the heels of two other IAS officers, BS Lalli and Aruna Sharma, having been indicted - the former in many cases, and the latter in the matter of the Commonwealth Games.