PRASAR BHARATI (BROADCASTING CORPORATION OF INDIA)
AMENDMENT ACT, 2011 [REPEALED] THE PRASAR BHARATI (BROADCASTING CORPORATION
OF INDIA) AMENDMENT ACT, 2011 [Act No. 6 of 2012] [8th January, 2012] An Act further to amend the PrasarBharati
(Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990. Be it
enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-second Year of the Republic of India as
follows:-- (1)
This Act may be called the PrasarBharati
(Broadcasting Corporation of India) Amendment Act, 2011. (2)
It shall come into force on such date as the
Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. In the
PrasarBharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 (25 of 1990)
(hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for section 11, the
following sections shall be substituted, namely:-- '11. Status
of officers and employees.-- (1)
All officers and employees recruited for the
purposes of Akashvani or Doordarshan before the appointed day and in service in
the Corporation as on the 1st day of April, 2000, shall be on deemed deputation
to the Corporation with effect from the 1st day of April, 2000, and shall so
continue till their retirement. (2)
All officers and employees recruited during
the period on or after the appointed day till the 5th day of October, 2007,
shall be on deemed deputation to the Corporation with effect from the 1st day
of April, 2000 or the date of their joining service in the Corporation,
whichever is later and until their retirement. Explanation.--For
the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2), "officers and employees
recruited" means officers and employees recruited either under the proviso
to article 309 of the Constitution or in accordance with the
regulations made under the Act, but shall not include persons engaged or
appointed on daily wages, casual, ad hoc or work charged basis. (3)
The officers and employees referred to in
sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall be entitled to the pay and all other
benefits as admissible to an employee of the Central Government; Provided
that such officers and employees shall not be entitled to any deputation
allowance. (4)
Notwithstanding anything contained in any
other law for the time being in force, the Corporation shall have the
disciplinary and supervisory powers and full control on the officers and
employees referred to in sub-section (1) and sub-section (2), including the
power to transfer them from one place, post or media to another, and to
suspend, initiate disciplinary proceedings and impose major or minor penalties: Provided
that the power to impose major penalties of compulsory retirement, removal or
dismissal from service shall be exercised by the Central Government. (5)
All officers and employees recruited after
the 5th day of October, 2007 shall be officers and employees of the Corporation
and shall be governed by such conditions of service as may be specified in the
regulations. 11A.
Section 11 not to apply to certain officers and employees. (1)
The provisions of section 11 shall not apply
to officers and employees of the Indian Information Service, the Central
Secretariat Service or any other service borne on any cadre outside Akashvani
or Doordarshan, who have been working in Akashvani or Doordarshan before the
appointed day or in service in the Corporation after that day. (2)
The terms and conditions of service in the
Corporation of officers and employees referred to in sub-section (1) shall be
such as may be prescribed. 11B.
Transfer of posts of Akashvani and Doordarshan to Corporation.-- (1)
All posts in the erstwhile Akashvani and
Doordarshan other than the posts borne on the strength of the cadres referred
to in sub-section (2) shall be deemed to have been transferred to the
Corporation with effect from the 1st day of April, 2000. (2)
All matters relating to the posts borne on
the strength of the cadres of the Indian Information Service, the Central
Secretariat Service or any other cadre outside Akashvani or Doordarshan, in so
far as such posts are concerned with the Corporation, shall be determined in
such manner and on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed.'. In section
32 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), for clause (f), the following
clauses shall be substituted, namely:-- "(f)
the terms and conditions of service in the Corporation of officers and
employees under sub-section (2) of section 11A; (ff)
the manner and the terms and conditions subject to which matters relating to
the posts borne on the strength of the cadres of the Indian Information
Service, the Central Secretariat Service or any other cadre outside Akashvani
or Doordarshan shall be determined under sub-section (2) of section 11B;". In section
33 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),-- (i)
for clause (d), the following clause shall be
substituted, namely:-- "(d)
the conditions of service of officers and employees under sub-section (5) of
section 11;"; (ii)
clause (e) shall be omitted. STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS 1.
The PrasarBharati (Broadcasting Corporation
of India) Act, 1990 provides for the establishment of a Broadcasting
Corporation of India, to be known as PrasarBharati. The said Act came into
force on the 15th September, 1997. Section 11 of the said Act provides for
transfer of officers or employees serving in the Akashvani or Doordarshan to
the Corporation, by the Central Government where it has ceased to perform any
of the functions of the Corporation specified in section 12 thereof. It further
provides that no such order shall be made in respect of any officer who has
intimated, within the specified period, his intention of not becoming an
employee of the Corporation. 2.
However, the employees were not given option
in terms of section 11 of the Act for transfer of their services to the
Corporation. The Government kept receiving representations from the employees
about their status as to whether they were to remain as Government employees or
as employees on deemed deputation serving in an autonomous organisation. It gave
rise to a number of litigation in various High Courts. After considering the
grievances of the employees who were on deemed deputation to the Corporation,
the Government decided to constitute a Group of Ministers on 7th March, 2006 to
take a final view. Further, Supreme Court of India, in appeals clubbed together
in Civil Appeal No. 3244/2002, while upholding the right of PrasarBharati
Broadcasting Corporation of India to transfer the employees, directed the Union
of India on 2nd February, 2007 to take a firm decision in terms of section 11
of the aforesaid Act and complete the entire process of deciding the service
related issues of PrasarBharati employees. 3.
The Group of Ministers, in its meeting held
on 5th October, 2007, recommended that the employees working in the
PrasarBharati may continue on deemed deputation with all benefits available to
Central Government employees. Again in its meeting held on 26th September,
2008, the Group of Ministers reiterated its recommendation that the Government
employees shall continue to serve in PrasarBharati on "deemed
deputation" basis till the time of their retirement with all facilities at
par with Central Government employees and that the persons recruited after 23rd
November, 1997, that is, the date on which, the PrasarBharati was established,
and serving in the PrasarBharati on the date of decision of Group of Ministers
dated 5th October, 2007, will also be treated as Government employees on
"deemed deputation" basis to the PrasarBharati and will enjoy all
facilities at par with the Central Government employees. It further recommended
for bringing necessary amendments to the Act for giving effect to the aforesaid
decisions. 4.
The Group of Ministers in its meeting held on
16th April, 2010 considered the issue relating to the status of the employees
belonging to the Indian Information Service, the Central Secretariat Service
and other cadres borne outside the cadre of Akashvani and Doordarshan and
recommended that status quo be maintained in respect of the said employees
subject to the conditions, inter alia, that Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting and PrasarBharati may jointly work out the number of deputation
posts to be manned by officers from Indian Information Service cadre. 5.
Accordingly, a provision has been made in the
Bill that the terms and conditions of service in the Corporation, and all
matters relating to the posts borne on the strength of the cadres of the Indian
Information Service, the Central Secretariat Service or any other cadre outside
Akashvani or Doordarshan, in so far as such posts are concerned with the
Corporation, shall be determined in such manner and on such terms and
conditions as may be prescribed. 6.
Since the above recommendations of the Group
of Ministers will settle the long standing issues of the status of employees
working in PrasarBharati and empower the PrasarBharati with all disciplinary
and supervisory powers and control on the officers and employees including the
power to transfer them from one place, post or media to another, it has become
necessary and expedient to amend the PrasarBharati (Broadcasting Corporation of
India) Act, 1990. 7.
The Bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid
objectives.
Preamble - THE PRASAR BHARATI (BROADCASTING
CORPORATION OF INDIA) AMENDMENT ACT, 2011PREAMBLE