New Delhi:
Rajiv Takru was appointed the officiating CEO of the Prasar Bharti on Monday following the recent suspension of B S Lalli against whom an inquiry has been ordered for alleged financial irregularities.
According to a decision taken at the Prasar Bharti Board meeting here, Takru, who is the Additional Secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, would be the officiating CEO for the interim period till an inquiry against Lalli ordered by the Supreme Court is completed. The Board resolved that Takru, who is a nominated member of the board, "may exercise all such powers and discharge all such functions vested with the Chief Executive Officer until further directions of the board and work continually under the overall direction, control and supervision of the Chairperson," a press statement said.
Takru, an IAS officer of 1979 batch, has earlier served as Director General of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) under the Ministry of Textiles.
With an aim of streamlining the functioning of the national broadcaster, the Board also formed five committees dealing with the subjects of finance, personnel, production and content, project monitoring and implementation and strategy and vision, said the statement issued by the Chairman's office.
A decision to dissolve the three-member committee that had been running the day-to-day work of the organisation under a previous decision of the board was also taken at the meeting.
"The committee was dissolved primarily because the Supreme Court had provisioned for a three-member committee and with the suspension of the CEO there were only two members left. Since only a two-member committee would have found it difficult to function, all the members decided to do away with it," board Chairperson Mrinal Pandey said.
The five committees were set up to ensure that there are "no snarls in the day-to-day decision making", Pandey said.
The committees would start functioning immediately and submit monthly reports to the board with a view to have workable plans by March 31, the statement said.
President Pratibha Patil last month ordered the suspension of Lalli, who was in the eye of a storm facing allegations of irregularities in the country's largest public broadcaster. The presidential action came after the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) forwarded to Patil the letter by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry recommending the suspension of 63-year-old Lalli, a 1971-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre.