NEW DELHI: In a meeting on Wednesday, the Prasar Bharati Board decided to recommend to the Group of Ministers that the Government should meet 100% of the expenses on salaries and allowances of the employees and 50% of operating expenses of Prasar Bharati, while the pubcaster will meet the balance 50 per cent of the operating expenses. It was also decided that the public service broadcaster will meet 100% of the expenses for programming related work  The existing provision requires Prasar Bharati to generate at least 50% of its operating expenses as commercial revenue.

The Board felt that given the nature of the Public Broadcaster, a more pragmatic and workable formula needs to be evolved 

The long-pending Recruitment Rules for 196 cadres of employees in Prasar Bharati were considered for forwarding to Government. Non-existence of these Rules ever since Prasar Bharati came into being in 1997 was a major reason for the huge backlog in filling up the vacancies and making vital appointments, something which has come under heavy criticism in Parliamentary Committees.

The Board also proposed extensive amendments to the Prasar Bharati Act to be referred to Government for consideration. This was felt necessary specifically in the wake of the recent events when serious reservations and questions had been raised on propriety, accountability of Prasar Bharati by various bodies in Government and others.

The Board also interviewed candidates for the posts of All India Radio Director General as Ms Noreen Naqvi is retiring, and Doordarshan Director General following repatriation of Ms Aruna Sharma to her parent cadre  The short-listed names have been forwarded for a final selection to the Government to avoid a vacuum in administrative functioning. The Board also delegated the financial powers and broad-based the Empowered Committee on Finance with the co-option of the financial representatives of All India Radio and Doordarshan to improve the quality of decision making.

Taking note of the progress made by various Committees set-up by the Board in January 2011, the Board said the working of these Committees required to be expedited. A large number of matters for fixation of responsibility, matters pertaining to wrongful exercise of powers etc., needed to be addressed at the earliest so that the individual responsibility could be fixed and corrective action initiated.

The Board also said the process of appointing special Auditors with well defined functions and internal Auditors for Prasar Bharati should also be completed on fast track to allow proper rectification measures 

After considering all aspects and the projected income statement from both All India Radio and Doordarshan, the Board expressed complete satisfaction with the role played by the Marketing Wing for excellent marketing of the ongoing Cricket World Cup for which ESPN Star Sports have the marketing rights. The Board called upon the Wing to submit a final report after the World Cup comes to end.