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NEW DELHI: With the government yet to decide on a chief executive
for pubcaster Prasar Bharati, an information and broadcasting
ministry official is slated to take over the reins from the
outgoing chief in the interim.
Additional secretary in the I&B ministry P Singh, a government
representative on the board of Prasar Bharati, would be the
interim chief of an organization that manages Doordarshan
and All India Radio.
KS Sarma retires from the post of CEO on 30 June after an over
four-year tenure, being the longest serving chief executive.
Though it is unlikely that Singh would be a permanent appointee,
the lack of urgency on the part of the I&B ministry to
find a replacement for Sarma could see the government official
at the helm of affairs for a longer duration than generally
expected.
Some of the names doing the rounds in the corridors of power
as likely candidates to succeed Sarma include former I&B
ministry official Vijay Singh and a human resources development
ministry official who’s said to be close to I&B minister
Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.
Another candidate, SY Querishi, whose name was being bandied
round as a likely CEO of Prasar Bharati, was named by the
government on Thursday to go to the Election Commission.
Querishi had served as the director general of Doordarshan
during Sushma Swaraj’s tenure as I&B minister in
the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in the
early 2000s.
Considering that the post of CEO of Prasar Bharati --- still
regarded as an extension of the government propaganda division
despite autonomy granted to it some years back --- would prove
to be both sensitive and crucial for New Delhi with elections
scheduled in some states next year, it’s unlikely that
Dasmunsi and company will decide in a hurry on a successor
to Sarma.
As the CEO, Sarma has had his ups and downs, but managed
to retain his post despite changes in the ministry and the
government.
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