MUMBAI: A search-and-select panel comprising lawmakers, senior journalists, Prasar Bharati and Rajya Sabha Secretariat officials has been formed to pick Rajya Sabha Television (RSTV) editor-in-chief.

In an attempt to bring RSTV at par with private news channels, the vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, has put the panel together.

The committee will be headed by the Prasar Bharati chairman A Surya Prakash and consist of MP Swapan Dasgupta, TV journalist Rahul Srivastava and Prasar CEO Shashi Shekar Vempati. The panel, which will also have a senior bureaucrat as a member, will begin advertising for the position shortly, and come up with a shortlist in 10 days, it is learnt.

A series of discussions have taken place with Naidu on revamping RSTV. The Veep had also ordered a review and rationalisation of RSTV manpower.

The said post fell vacant after the incumbent editor Gurdeep Singh Sappal resigned following the end of the tenure of the vice-president Hamid Ansari as the chairman of the Upper House.

In an order issued on 18 October by the Secretariat, the panel will invite applications and conduct interviews to select a suitable candidate and submit its recommendation to the  chairman. It may take at least a month to complete the formalities for the position, it was learnt.

Naidu had earlier reviewed the functioning of RS TV and sought to know from the officials whether the channel needed a CEO since the Secretariat provided administrative support.

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