New Delhi: A fresh approval of the union cabinet will be sought for the maiden e-auction of Phase III of FM Radio licences as certain new aspects have come to light after the earlier clearance.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has prepared a note that encompasses the news aspects and circulated it to the concerned ministries/departments for their views, before it is put up for approval of the cabinet in the next few weeks.

The Information and Broadcasting ministry has said issues such as charging of migration fee from existing permission holders, and specific departures in the Requests for Proposals (RFP) from agencies interested in conducting the e-auction on behalf of the ministry, had not been taken into account when the cabinet approval for the Phase III auctions were obtained on 7 July last year.

The issues relating to the e-auction were pointed out by the inter-ministerial committee set up in November last year and headed by the then additional secretary in the I&B Ministry Rajiv Takroo.

The nine-member committee, with I&B joint secretary - broadcasting Supriya Sahu as the member-secretary, was set up to ‘guide and supervise the process of e-auction and grant of licences to private parties‘ in Phase III.

Meanwhile, the ministry has decided to commence work on the e-auctions and has called for tenders. The pre-qualification of the bidders is expected to be completed in about another two months, following which the companies that qualify will be allowed to participate in the e-auction for FM radio Phase III licences. The e-auction is expected to begin early next year.

FM Phase III Policy will extend FM radio services to about 227 new cities with a total of 839 new FM radio channels in 294 cities. A total of 216 cities and towns will get private FM radio stations for the first time, out of the 302 identified by the government and split into four categories.

In Phase III, 67 of the 86 cities and towns which already have private FM Radio channels will get additional channels. All cities with a population of 100,000 and above are entitled to get private FM radio channels in Phase III auctions.

The committee was expected to finalise and seek approval for the Request for Proposal document for selection of agency for conducting the e-auction, review the auction framework, finalise the auction documentation, conduct and oversee open house sessions for stakeholders, and guide the agency selected for the e-auction.

A separate Appellate Review Committee was also set up to scrutinize the short-listing of prospective bidders headed by the Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the I&B ministry. This committee will scrutinize various details including the net worth of prospective bidders and put them up on the ministry website, scrutinize bank guarantees and oversee the other work in that connection.

Private FM Radio broadcasters in North East (NE) Region and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Island territories will be required to pay half the rate of annual license fee for an initial period of three years from the date from which the annual license fee becomes payable and the permission period of fifteen years begins. The revised fee structure has also been made applicable for a period of three years, from the date of issuance of guidelines, to the existing operators in these states to enable them to effectively compete with the new operators.

Apart from the fee relaxation, Prasar Bharati infrastructure would be made available at half the lease rentals for similar category cities in such areas. The limit on the ownership of channels, at the national level, allocated to an entity has been retained at 15 per cent. However, channels allotted in Jammu & Kashmir, North Eastern States and island territories will be allowed over and above the 15 per cent national limit to incentivise the bidding for channels in such areas.

A total of 245 FM channels are currently operational in 87 cities, each with a population of over 300,000 or more.

Meanwhile, All India Radio (AIR) is working on a plan to increase the coverage of its FM Radio channels from 37 to 90 per cent of the population, in a modernisation programme undertaken since 2011 and expected to be completed by 2016. AIR has already covered 99 per cent of the population with its analogue technology channels.

NEW DELHI: Rajiv Takru, until now Additional Secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, has been transferred to the Department of Health and Family Welfare as Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser.

The appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment in place of Ravinder Kumar Jain, IAS, on his relinquishing the charge of the post.

Takru, an Indian Administrative Officer from Gujarat Cadre from the 1979 batch, had on 13 October 2010 assumed charge as Additional Secretary in the I&B Ministry in place of Uday Kumar Verma, an IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh in the 1976 batch, who came back to the Ministry early this year as Secretary.

Takru also held charge as CEO in Prasar Bharati when then CEO BS Lalli was suspended on corruption charges, until new CEO Jawahar Sircar tool over earlier this year.

Prior to his appointment in I&B, Takru was Director General of National Institute of Fashion Technology under the Ministry of Textiles.

Takru has served in various capacities at both the Centre and State in various Departments/Ministries such as Defence, Textiles, Finance & Revenue, Commerce, Urban Development and Tourism.

A graduate in mechanical engineering, he also served as Deputy Director at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, Mussourie during the period 1988- 1992.

NEW DELHI: Jawhar Sircar, until now secretary in the culture ministry, is to be the new chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati.

Sircar?s name was cleared after a three-member selection panel headed by Vice-President Hamid Ansari with Press Council of India chairman Justice Markanday Katju and Information and Broadcasting secretary Uday Kumar Varma as members recommended his name for the position. The appointment of the CEO is done by the President on the recommendation of the selection panel.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Sircar was tipped to be the CEO.

Sircar is due to retire from his present job next month, and will take over from acting CEO Rajiv Takru, the Additional Secretary in I&B ministry and its representative on the Prasar Bharati board.

Takru had been asked to hold additional charge of CEO in January last year after the suspension of then CEO B S Lalli, following a series of corruption charges established by the Central Vigilance Commission.

However, the search for a successor could begin only after Lalli retired in December. It is learnt that a panel of 11 members was sent to the three-member committee.

Sircar belongs to the 1975 batch of Indian Administrative Service from West Bengal. After the retirement of I&B secretary Raghu Menon in September last year, Sircar had been asked to hold additional charge of this ministry in addition to the culture ministry, until the appointment of Uday Kumar Varma.

Sircar holds two post-graduate degrees in Ancient Indian History and Culture and in Sociology with Social Anthropology. He has served as additional (later special secretary) secretary and development commissioner for micro, small and medium enterprises in the centre, prior to which he held the posts of higher education secretary and principal secretary of commerce and industries in West Bengal.

Sircar has been actively associated with several cultural and academic bodies like the Asiatic Society, the Victoria Memorial, the Centre for Archaeological Studies, the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art and the Indian Anthropological Society. He took the lead in establishing the annual Kolkata Film Festival as an international event. He has published several articles and research papers on history, culture and society. In the last decade, he has focussed his research on specific aspects of popular culture, folk religion and on the development of socio-religious identities.

?NAction was taken against Lalli after the Shunglu committee report indicted him for irregularities in the broadcast contract of the Commonwealth Games. A Central Bureau of Investigation probe is underway in this connection. Meanwhile, a Supreme Court has been asked to probe the four charges of corruption established by the CVC.

The five allegations established by Central Vigilance Commission relate to contracts for management of advertisement revenue arising from the telecast of cricket matches on Doordarshan during 2007; the non-telecast by Doordarshan of T-20 cricket World Cup matches held in South Africa in September 2007; engagement of legal entities to represent Prasar Bharati; purchase of radio broadcasting rights for 13 cricket series held during 2007-09; and hiring of transport and accommodation for the conduct of the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 2008.

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Hunt for new Prasar Bharati CEO begins as Lalli?s term ends

NEW Delhi: Arun Kumar Jain, Member (Finance), has once again run into trouble with the Prasar Bharati, with its Board recommending his removal.

A meeting of the Board is understood to have agreed on forwarding this proposal to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. He has been charged with indiscipline.

However, since Jain is a member of the Indian Administrative Service in the 1977 batch from the Nagaland cadre, the proposal will have to go to the Department of Personnel and Training.

This is not the first time that Jain has run into trouble with the Board, since he has been consistently raising objections to the way finance is managed in the pubcaster.

He had been asked in March 2009 ? when B S Lalli was the chief executive officer - to go back to his parent cadre or quit the IAS. This happened after he had written a series of letters to the then CEO and other members about financial irregularities.

In June that year, the Delhi High Court stayed the Central Administrative Tribunal?s order directing Jain to either resign from IAS for absorption in the public broadcaster or revert to his parent cadre. Justice Veena Birabal passed the stay order on the petition of Jain challenging the verdict of the Tribunal.

Early last year soon after Rajiv Takru (Additional Secretary in the I&B Ministry) assumed charge after the suspension of Lalli, the Board decided to form a three-member finance committee to handle the financial matters of the pubcaster, and Jain was asked to cleaning up the internal accounts.

Following this, Jain had approached the Delhi High Court against the Board?s decision to divest him of his powers and vesting powers of CEO to the nominated member, Takru. Jain had said that the appointment of Takru, who is two years junior to Jain, was ?illegal and in contravention of the Prasar Bharati Act? as the Board has no powers to appoint a CEO.

The Court issued notice to the Board in May 2011, and the hearing is continuing, with the case coming up later this week.

NEW DELHI: With the official term of suspended Prasar Bharati chief executive officer BS Lalli having come to an end, the three-member selection panel is expected to meet this week to select his successor for the next five years.

Under the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990, a committee headed by the Vice President, with the Chairman of the Press Council and a nominee of the President as members, has the powers to appoint the Prasar Bharati chairman or CEO.

Although no names have been disclosed, Prasar Bharati sources told indiantelevision.com that Jawahar Sircar, secretary in the culture ministry, presently heads the list of aspirants.

During the recent discussion on the Prasar Bharati (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni had said that delay had been because the committee had not met, but officials said that Lalli had been suspended and not removed, and therefore a full time CEO could not be appointed as he was still on the rolls.

Lalli was due to retire on 28 December with his five-year tenure getting over. He was suspended after the Shunglu Committee report indicted him for irregularities in the broadcast contract of the Commonwealth Games. A CBI probe was also launched into the matter.

I&B Additional Secretary Rajiv Takru had been functioning as acting CEO since January last year.

Sources said seeking the Presidential reference to the Supreme Court for removal of Lalli would have taken a long time and therefore it had been considered wiser to wait till his term got over.

The Ministry has already confirmed that it is in favour of changing the appointment and removal procedure of the CEO and to curtail his powers.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that while permission was needed for the Central Bureau of Investigation to proceed against Lalli, no such permission is needed for any CBI action against former Doordarshan Director General Aruna Sharma since she is no longer in service with the Union Government has she has been reverted to her home cadre.

NEW DELHI: An inter-ministerial committee (IMC) headed by Information and Broadcasting Ministry Additional Secretary Rajiv Takroo has been set up to finalise the details of the e-auction for the third phase of FM Radio in the country.

The committee with nine members, of whom I&B Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) Supriya Sahu will be the member secretary, will "guide and supervise the process of e-auction and grant of license to private parties" for Phase III.

It will finalise and seek approval of the request for proposal document for selection of agency for conducting the e-auction for award of license of FM channels; review the auction framework, finalise the auction documentation, conduct and oversee open house sessions for stakeholders, and guide the agency selected for the e-auction.

The IMC will report to I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma. Other members are the representatives of the Telecommunications, Information Technology, Legal Affairs, and Economic Affairs departments apart from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, all of whom will not be below the rank of joint secretary.

In addition, there will be representation of the director-finance from the Internal Finance Wing of the I&B Ministry, and the Director General of All India Radio.

A separate Appellate Review Committee to scrutinise the short-listing of prospective bidders has also been set up in the Ministry, headed by the Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry. It has six other members including the Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) who will be member secretary. They include representatives from Corporate Affairs, Revenue (Central Board of Direct Taxes), Telecom, Legal Affairs, and the internal Finance Wing of the I&B Ministry.

This committee will scrutinise various details including the networth of prospective bidders and put them up on the Ministry website, scrutinise bank guarantees and oversee the other work in that connection.