Prasar Bharati acts against erring officials

A year after it got disciplinary powers through an amendment, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has suspended over 10 officers, issued 19 charge sheets and recommended dismissal in five cases.
Officials said that while the I&B ministry has powers to act against senior officers it was an amendment in 2012 which transferred this power to Prasar Bharati.
While there was a long pendency of cases at the time, Prasar Bharati strengthened its Vigilance Wing, they said.
In one such case, a senior officer of Doordarshan was placed under suspension for having unauthorisedly procured more programmes than the requirement in a north Indian state.

Officials said that there were also allegations against him of giving misleading information to the court to benefit some casual workers get permanent status, which resulted in financial loss to Prasar Bharati. A charge sheet has been filed against the officer with the approval of CVC, they said.
In another case, two officers posted in the northeast were suspended for allegedly manipulating cheques to be issued to artistes. They allegedly got account payee cheques converted to bearer cheques which were later encashed illegally, officials added.

Another senior officer was chargesheeted in May 2013 on the basis of a CBI raid conducted in 2009. The matter was pending with the ministry for almost three years when it was transferred to Prasar Bharati early this year.

Another instance involved two engineers who were suspended for allegedly forging documents to get payments by providing bills of civil works which were actually not done.
Another senior officer was charge sheeted by the CBI and placed under suspension for possessing disproportionate assets, officials said.