Vigilance inquiry planned against Gill

Not just this, the Ministry says the CEO issued an office circular on March 10 reiterating that all the financial powers were delegated to him. It then proceeded to change thenorms for financial purchases, allowing the CEO to take a decision on schemes worth between Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore (in place of the Expenditure Finance Committee chaired by the Secretary, Expenditure). It also allowed the Engineer-in-Charge, Doordarshan, to decide on schemes between Rs 15 crore and Rs 50 crore, in place of the Secretary, Information and Broadcasting.

But Gill insists the ministry cannot prove any misappropriation on his part. “They don’t need my permission for a vigilance case, but if no powers were notified, then at least I could assume the power of a Secretary to the Government of India, which allows me more than Rs 15 crore of purchases,” he says.

Ministry officials say its representative on the board objected to Gill spending amounts in excess of the norm. Then, on March 31, an Additional Secretary wrote to Gill to stick to the financial norms and to consider imposing a limit of Rs 20 crore. The letter referred to a July 1, 1996, office order disallowing the DGs of DD and AIRfrom spending more than Rs 4 crore. Gill said he was unable to recall the two instances and that they may have been dealt with by junior officials. The ministry is referring in particular to Gill’s authorisation of a purchase of camera equipment worth Rs 27 crore from Sony in Hong Kong. To this, Gill says: “When I came in, the organisation needed a lot of equipment. I had to run the place, after all.”

The ministry officials say Gill should have spent the Prasar Bharati funds in consultation with them, because the corporation fund, as provided for in Section 18 of the Act, is yet to be constituted. They note that between November, when he took over, and now, he has spent Rs 600 crore, almost half of the corporation’s annual budget. Yet, during this time, the officials point out, Doordarshan’s revenue has actually declined. As against Rs 570 crore in 1996-97, DD’s advertising revenue this year dipped to Rs 490.16 crore. The Finance Ministry, in fact, wrote to the I&B Ministry seeking an explanation — thelatter referred the matter to the CEO.