Censor Board row: Jaitley hits back calling Samson a ‘non-functional Chairperson’

“It is the UPA appointed Central Censor Board which has since continued. If there is any corruption, the UPA appointees have themselves to blame. I only wished that the fact of corruption had been communicated even once by the Chairperson of the Censor Board to me. The non-functional Chairperson never did so,” Jaitley wrote in a post on the BJP website.

Calling the charge that meetings of the Censor Board were not being held as “Self Condemnation”, the I&B minister said that “the meetings are to be convened not by the Minister or the Secretary but by the Chairperson. If the meetings are not being convened, it is for those responsible for non-functioning who must blame themselves”.

“I have checked up from officials of the Ministry who informed that the funds for the Censor Board have been returned to the Ministry as unspent by the Board,” the minister added.

Jaitley also stated that the “legal regime with regard to the functioning of the Censor Board is clear” and that “it is the Censor Board alone which decides issues within its’ jurisdiction”.

“The aggrieved producer has a right to move to the Appeal Tribunal… If an Appeal Tribunal disagrees with the Board, it is a part of the due process of law and not an onslaught on Board’s autonomy. Can a subordinate judicial authority ever cry foul if its decision upset by an appellate authority?” Jaitley said, adding that the “NDA Government maintains arms length distance in all matters relating to Film certification”.

Jaitley also hit out at the previous UPA regime saying it had “politicised the Censor Board”. “In 2004 they dismissed the existing Censor Board headed by an eminent Film actor Anupam Kher merely on the ground that Anupam Kher was appointed by the earlier Government. We did not wish to do that. It is regrettable that the UPA appointees have decided to politicise routine issues,” the minister said. He added that the Congress had politicised even membership of the Appeal Tribunal and that the NDA government had “restored its dignity by appointing a former Judge of high credibility as Chairperson”.