New Delhi, Feb. 1: The noose appears to be tightening around both suspended the Prasar Bharati chief executive, Mr B.S. Lalli, and the Doordarshan’s current director-general, Ms Aruna Sharma, with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, taking a “serious view” of the findings of the Shunglu committee report, which has severely indicted them for financial irregularities in the Commonwealth Games broadcast deal.
The PMO made it clear that “swift and stern action is likely” once the Cabinet Secretary, Mr K.M. Chandrasekhar, has given his suggestions on the report. The PM is learnt to have directed him to submit his report within a week.
The government’s steps come in the wake of a recommendation by the panel to decide on action against both Mr Lalli and Ms Sharma as well as “others who acted in concert with them for providing undue gain to SIS Live/Zoom Communications Ltd”.
The panel found that the contract for production and coverage of the Games was awarded to SIS Live at a cost of `246 crores on the basis of a single bid, while the nine others were either rejected or the entities had backed out owing to “unduly restrictive and stringent conditions”.
The panel also found that the “actual cost of the contract awarded to SIS Live was at best `111 crores” and that this helped SIS Live and Zoom to make “a profit of at least `135 crores”.
The report notes: “It appears to be the case that SIS secured the contract for `246 crores; assigned it to Zoom for `177 crores; provided no service and made a profit of the difference between the contracted price and the assigned price — `69 crores”.