NEW DELHI: Gajendra Chauhan, whose appointment in the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) had led to a furore some months earlier, today formally took over as chairman of the premier body.
There was slogan-shouting and protests by students as he entered the premise in Pune for the first meeting of the newly appointed FTII Society and the Governing Council in Pune and some students were taken away by the police.
Chauhan is chairman of the Governing Council and President of the FTII Society.
However in an attempt to meet one of the demands of the agitating students, television producer-director Brijendra Pal Singh, who was elected as the vice president of the Society and vice chairman of the Governing Council, will head the Academic Council as chairman.
An alumni of FTII, Singh is noted for his series CID, which is one of the longest running television series in India.
The meeting of the Society was attended by its Chauhan, additional secretary and financial advisor Dr Subhash Sharma, director Rajkumar Hirani, producer-director B. P. Singh, actors Satish Shah and Rahul Solapurkar, and Information and Broadcasting Ministry Joint Secretary (Films) Sanjay Murthy.
Anagha Ghaisas, Narendra Pathak, film critic Bhawana Somaiyya, Urmil Thapliyal and Pranjal Saikia were also present at the meeting.
The ex-officio members included Films Division DG Mukesh Sharma, FTII director Prashant Pathrabe, Ministry OSD Chaitanya Prasad, Children’s Films Society, India, CEO Shravan Kumar, and Satyajit Ray FTII director Sanjay Pattnayak.
The Society also decided to nominate Hirani, Singh, Shah, Saikia, Pathak and Somaiyya to the Governing Council.
The GC also approved the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts of the Institute for 2013-14 & 2014-15. The Revised Estimates for 2015-2016 and Budget Estimates for 2016-17 were also sanctioned at the meeting.
Addressing Staff members on arrival, Chauhan said he would do his best to solve the problems of the Institution including the longstanding demand of pension for the staff.
