In a curious turn of events,chairman of Prasar Bharati Board Arun Bhatnagar has resigned from his post expressing his deep dissatisfaction with the functioning of Indias largest public broadcaster. Only last week,Bhatnagar had made public his strong objection to the manner in which Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli was running the organisation. In an affidavit before the Delhi High Court,which is hearing a Public Interest Litigation against governments decision to grant a three-year extension to Lalli,Bhatnagar had called for an independent,comprehensive and time-bound inquiry into charges of financial mismanagement in Prasar Bharati. I submit that the functioning of Prasar Bharati has,for quite some time now,been a matter of gravest concern for the Members of the Board, Bhatnagar had said in his affidavit. However,when the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday,he informed the High Court that he had resigned from his position with effect from May 20. I have resigned because I am extremely dissatisfied with the functioning of Prasar Bharati, Bhatnagar,a 1966-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre,told The Indian Express on Tuesday. He refused to elaborate further. In his affidavit,however,he had endorsed the views of a majority of the Board members who had expressed complete no-confidence in the CEO. As reported by The Indian Express,these members,at Board meetings in January and February,had alleged serious financial irregularities in the organisation and recommended the withdrawal of all powers delegated to CEO. However,the government gave a three-year extension to Lalli,a 1971-batch IAS officer,days before he was to retire. While granting the extension,the government had clarified that the recent amendment in the Prasar Bharati Act,increasing the retirement age of the CEO to 65 years from 62 applied to the incumbent as well.
