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Prasar Bharati Bill gets entangled in parliamentary web

The smooth passage in the Lok Sabha of the Bill for reviving the Prasar Bharati Act as passed in 1990, which belied the deadlocked meetings between the government and Opposition leaders, is a pointer to the legislation's fate in the upper house.

The passing of the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Amendment Bill by Parliament will mean nullifying the effect of the ordinance promulgated by the United Front government last year and bring back to the statute book the 22-member committee of members of Parliament to oversee the working of the corporation and also the Broadcasting Council which can receive and hear complaints about its working.

Another immediate effect of the Bill will be the revival of the clause for fixing the upper age limit for the member (executive) of the Prasar Bharati board at 62. This will mean the exit of the present Chief Executive Officer, S S Gill, who had come in following a change in the upper age limit through the ordinance last year.

The Bill has two new provisions providing for the resignation of the present chief executive officer and part-time members when the legislation gets Presidential assent. The provisos also say the board members -- who according to the bill had been pointed for a period of six years -- will not be entitled to any compensation.

The Prasar Bharati Act, introduced in the Rajya Sabha by the then Information and Broadcasting Minister P Upendra, was passed in mid-1990 after a national debate. It received presidential assent on September 12 the same year, but was notified seven years later with effect from September 15. The legislation was amended on October 30 through an ordinance aimed at bringing in greater autonomy, and was re-promulgated on December 31 after Parliament was dissolved. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government allowed the ordinance to lapse on May 6.

The Opposition a few weeks ago had appeared united in their resolve to oppose the Bill, but at least two parties -- the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party -- clearly fell out. This split is expected to help the ruling alliance which is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha. (Interestingly, only the BJP and its allies had issued a whip for all its members to be present in the house at the time of voting on the Bill).

While the Congress and some of its allies had wanted that the selection committee for the Prasar Bharati board should also include the leaders of the Opposition in both Houses, the Left parties opposed the Bill in principle as they felt that every succeeding regime could not be permitted to amend the Act to suit its purpose.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj held several discussions with leaders of the Opposition parties, and agreed to the Congress demand on condition that the leaders of both houses will also be included. Emphasising she was following all constitutional norms, she told the Lok Sabha on Friday that the onus of moving such an amendment lay with the Congress.

The opposition to the Bill -- then listed for being taken up in the Lok Sabha on July 21 -- had also led to the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha referring it to the standing committee -- a move opposed by both Swaraj and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana on the ground the BAC was not empowered to take such decisions. The matter was ultimately placed before Speaker G M C Balayogi.

In a strongly-worded reply, Swaraj said the aim in reviving the 1990 Act was to bring in autonomy with accountability. She also announced that she planned to bring forward a modified Broadcasting Bill in the next session of Parliament. She said the Prasar Bharati Act will be suitably amended after a Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India is set up under the Broadcasting Bill.

According to the statement of objects and reasons appended to the Prasar Bharati (Amendment) Bill, ''It was a conscious decision to allow the ordinance to lapse, since the ordinance had removed or modified several important provisions of the Act considered detrimental to the proper functions of Prasar Bharati as originally envisaged.''

It is stated that the Bill ''shall resolve the uncertainty and vacuum created by the lapse of the ordinance and shall restore to the Prasar Bharati and its operations the accountability and balance which were envisaged in the original Act.''

The Bill was brought forward because ''a doubt was expressed whether all provisions of the original Act would automatically revive or parliamentary legislation would be required for that purpose. Government has been advised that specific legislative measures are required to bring into existence the same state of affairs which existed before the promulgation of the ordinance.''

Other effects of the Amendment will be that the member (personnel) and member (finance) will get back the status of being wholetime for six years instead of ex-officio, and the government gets back its powers to constitute recruitment boards.

The proposal for a 22-member parliamentary committee, which is provided for in Section 13(1) of the Act, was brought in following an amendment moved by the Congress during the discussion on the Bill in May 1990, which had been opposed by the BJP as it was felt that it would curb autonomy.

The Janata Dal's S Jaipal Reddy had removed the provision for the committee to restore greater autonomy and because of the presence of the parliamentary standing committee (which came into being in 1991).

Although passed in May 1990, the Prasar Bharati Act had not been notified on the ground that the entry of the satellite television channels and other developments had brought about changes in the situation and the Act would have to be amended in this light.

Later the matter assumed urgency when the Supreme Court on February 9, 1995 in a case relating to the Cricket Association of Bengal ruled that airwaves were public property and an authority should be set up to regulate them.

The government then announced that it would bring about a comprehensive legislation on broadcasting and would amend the Prasar Bharati Act accordingly. The Broadcasting Bill was ultimately introduced in Parliament late last year and went to a joint select committee of MPs, but lapsed with the dissolution of Parliament.

The Opposition in the Rajya Sabha sharply criticised the government for delaying the discussion on the Prasar Bharati Bill adopted by the Lok Sabha last week.

The issue was raised by Nilotpal Basu (Communist Party of India-Marxist) as soon as the House met this morning. Sharing his apprehension, Pranab Mukherjee (Congress) said there was a move to bypass the house as the government did not have enough numbers to get the bill passed. He wanted the government to inform members when the Bill will be introduced.

Gurudas Das Gupta (Communist Party of India) expressed the fear that the government intended to come out with another ordinance. Responding, Leader of the House Sikander Bakht said the government would bring the Bill before the house as soon as possible.

Krishan Kant, who was in the chair, rejected a point of order of Vayalar Ravi (Congress) who wanted to know if the government could withhold the bill from the Upper House when it was still in session.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT:
Lok Sabha passes bill to revive 1990 Prasar Bharati Act