NEW INDIA: Arbitration proceedings by British production house SIS Live for recovery of amounts withheld by Prasar Bharati for breach of the contractual provisions relating to coverage of the Commonwealth Games in 2010 are still continuing.

Prasar Bharati had encashed the bank guarantee amounting to Rs 246 million and withheld a sum of Rs 70.80 million against services provided for Rights Holding Broadcasters.

Prasar Bharati has also withheld a sum of Rs 984 million (40 per cent of the contract value of the contract awarded to SIS Live for Rs 2.46 billion) on account of various disputes.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that the arbitral proceedings are still going on. The arbitration has been invoked by SIS Live under clause 8.2 of the contract with Prasar Bharati.

SIS Live had recently expressed relief recently at the reported move by the Central Bureau of Investigation to seek closure of the investigation against award to it of coverage of the Commonwealth Games.

The High Level V K Shunglu Committee had concluded that SIS Live that were estimated at below Rs One billion, but Prasar Bharati had already paid Rs 1.476 billion up to October 2010.

Interestingly even as the CBI had begun its investigation, the Central Vigilance Officer of Prasar Bharati had also commenced investigations. Following an objection by CBI that these would interfere with the investigating agency?s work, the Ministry directed the CVO to stop investigation on all sixteen issues listed by the Shunglu Committee except one which related to customisation of services, on which the CVO has already submitted a report.

The Ministry had in March last year cleared action in the matter of irregularities of award of contract to SIS Live by then Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer Baljit Singh Lalli (who was later suspended on corruption charges in other cases).

It had been stated that the award of broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games reportedly resulting in loss of Rs 1.35 million. The Shunglu Committee in its report said ?undue benefits? were provided to SIS Live and Zoom Communications.

Lalli along with former Doordarshan Director-General Aruna Sharma were named by the V K Shunglu Committee in the first of its reports to the Commonwealth Games held in the Capital in October 2010.

No sanction was given for prosecution of Sharma in view of an explanation given by her earlier and another detailed note sought from her by the Ministry. It is learnt that she has been asked to submit the note within one week. Sharma had later been reverted to her home state Madhya Pradesh following completion of her term in Doordarshan.

NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry appear to be getting into murkier waters with their justification and replies to Parliament relating to award of coverage of the Commonwealth Games 2010 to SIS Live which in turn outsourced it to Zoom Communications.

In an action taken report presented to Parliament around 18 months after the Games got over, the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information Technology which deals with I&B Ministry said it wanted to be informed about the reasons for the ?mismatch in the calculation of the cost estimation at various stages?.

Shunglu assumptions on profits based on wrong premise: Ministry

Interestingly, the Ministry says that the report of the High Level Committee constituted by the Government under V K Shunglu based on the premise that SIS Live had outsourced the work to Zoom Communications for Rs 1.77 billion and the two entities made a profit of Rs 1.34 billion (Rs 690 million to M/s SIS Live and Rs 650 to Zoom) is based on wrong premise and facts as it is based on an income tax survey in the middle of the year. .

The Committee took note of the statement by the Ministry that the tender of SIS Live of Rs 2.46 billion was accepted as it was found by the Financial Evaluation Committee of Prasar Bharati to be around 17 per cent lower than the estimate of Rs 2.54 billion (after taking the impact of foreign exchange variations into account) that was approved by the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs ?for similar components/activities?.

In its reply, the Ministry said Prasar Bharati had on 3 July 2007 initially forwarded an estimate of Rs 5.57 billion. However, on the basis of Request for Information (RFI), the estimates were brought down to Rs 4.45 billion in the EFC proposal. Finally, the Cost Estimate Committee on 16 May 2008 confirmed the cost estimates of Rs 3.66 billion.

Taking note of this ?mismatch? and the fact that the case was still under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Committee said detailed information should be placed before it as soon as the findings are made available to the Ministry.

In its reply, the Ministry admitted that the suspension of then Prasar Bharati CEO BS Lalli was not linked to the Games imbroglio, and gave details of the case registered.

Reiterating its transparency, the Ministry said eight Expressions of Interest applications had been received by the public broadcaster which ultimately forwarded five for issuance of RFP documents. Only two bids were received by the closing date and that of SIS Live was approved. It further said that the Ministry had on two occasions informed the Central Vigilance Commission its reasons for selecting this broadcaster.

The Committee has also taken note of the reply of the Ministry that new amendments are being brought in to improve the relationship between the CEO of the pubcaster and the Government and improve functioning, and expressed the hope that it would be informed about the discussions with the Law Ministry and fate of the amendments in the Cabinet.

Parliamentary Committee observes about loss dilemma between Govt. and pubcaster

In its report last year, the Parliamentary Committee had said it was ?deeply concerned about the controversy?. It is clear that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry seems to be in dilemma about the actual loss on account of broadcasting rights.

What is more, the Committee had noted that neither the I&B Ministry nor Prasar Bharati were aware that SIS Live, United Kingdom, had outsourced the coverage and production to Zoom Communications and this fact came to their notice at ?a later stage?. The Committee was also "surprised to note the opinion given by the Law Ministry that the sub-contract was not in violation of the clause which existed between Prasar Bharati and SIS Live".

The report had said "the fact remains that the contract which SIS Live got from Prasar Bharati for Rs 2.46 billion was outsourced by the entity to Zoom Communications for Rs.1.77 billion. The High Level Committee constituted by the Government under V K Shunglu has estimated the work below Rs one billion."

Prasar Bharati realised gross revenue of Rs 604.8 million through commercial advertisements during the Games held from 3 to 14 October 2010.

NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Prasar Bharati have made some recommendations to the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act 1990 about the relationship between the Government and the pubcaster and between its Board and the chief executive officer.

This follows consideration by a Group of Ministers of the recommendations of a high level committee headed by V K Shunglu relating to broadcasting rights for the Commonwealth Games last year.
 
The Prasar Bharati Board and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has done a compressive review of the provisions of the Prasar Bharati Act, sources told indiantelevision.com.