PRASAR BHARATI CEO JAWHAR SIRCAR QUITS

NEW DELHI: A month after he had written to the ministry of information and broadcasting urging to be relieved early, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar finally put in his papers. His term was to end in February next year.

Former information and broadcasting secretary Sunil Arora, who was recently appointed as an advisor in Prasar Bharati, is likely to succeed him.

A source in the ministry, however, said no decision has been taken yet on Sircar’s request to be relieved of charge.

Though the ministry had denied Sircar making any request to quit before his term ended, Sircar told HT in September that his decision to hang his boots was precipitated by the “repeated spiking” of his plans to clean up Doordarshan. “Done my best in India’s toughest and thankless broadcasting task but I am tired now,” he said.

The former culture secretary appointed by the UPA government had repeatedly accused the ministry of impeding his efforts to run Doordarshan and All India Radio in an autonomous manner and accused the government of interference.

He had run-ins with the former information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari during the UPA rule as well. In 2014, he disclosed that certain portions of the then BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s interview on Doordarshan “were apparently edited”. He had pinned the blame on Tewari for failing to grant “operational autonomy” to the public broadcaster that it has been seeking for years.

Sircar recently made a presentation on Prasar Bharti before information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu, listing the details of losses that DD was making. His claims were, however challenged by the director general of DD.