Electronic Journalism

Lesson 15 : Media Policies - Laws For Electronic Journalism

Prasar Bharati

Prasar Bharati Act, 1990

This is an Act to provide for the establishment of a Broadcasting Corporation for India, to be known as Prasar Bharati, to define its composition, functions and powers and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Establishment and composition of Corporation:

1. With effect from such date as the Central Government may by notification appoint in this behalf, there shall be established for the purposes of this Act a Corporation, to be known as the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India).


2. The Corporation shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract, and shall by the said name sue and be sued.


3. The headquarters of the Corporation shall be at New Delhi and the Corporation may establish offices, kendras or stations at other places in India and, with the previous approval of the Central Government, outside India.


4. The general superintendence, direction and management of the affairs of the Corporation shall vest in the Prasar Bharati Board which may exercise all such powers and do all such acts and things as may be exercised or done by the Corporation under this Act.


5. The Board shall consist of —


1. a Chairman;
2. one Executive Member;
3. one Member (Finance);
4. one Member (Personnel);
5. six Part-time Members;
6. Director-General (Akashvani), ex-officio;
7. Director-General (Doordarshan), ex-officio;
8. one representative of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, to be nominated by that Ministry; and two representatives of the employees of the Corporation, of whom one shall be elected by the engineering staff from amongst themselves and one shall be elected by the other employee from amongst themselves.


6. The Corporation may appoint such committees as may be necessary for the efficient performance, exercise and discharge of its functions, powers and duties:
   
   Provided that all or a majority of the members of each committee shall be Members and a member of any such committee who is not a Member shall have only the right to attend meetings of the committee and take part in the proceedings thereof, but shall not have the right to vote


7. The Corporation may associate with itself, in such manner and for such purposes as may be provided by regulations, any person whose assistance or advice it may need in complying with any of the provisions of this Act and a person so associated shall have the right to take part in the discussions of the Board relevant to the purposes for which he has been associated, but shall not have the right to vote.


8. No act or proceeding of the Board or of any committee appointed by it under sub-section (6) shall be invalidated merely by reason of—
1. any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Board or such committee; or
2. any defect in the appointment of a person acting as a Member or a member of such committee; or
3. any irregularity in the procedure of the Board or such committee not affecting the merits of the case.

Appointment of Chairman and other Members:

1. The Chairman and the other Members, except the ex-officio Members, the Nominated Member and the elected Members shall be appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a committee consisting of —


1. the Chairman of the Council of States, who shall be the Chairman of the Committee;
2. the Chairman of the Press Council of India established under section 4 of the Press Council Act, 1978 (37 of 1978); and
3. one nominee of the President of India.
2. No appointment of a Member shall be invalidated merely by reason of any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the committee appointed under sub-section (1).
3. The Chairman and the Part-time Members shall be persons of eminence in public life; the Executive Member shall be a person having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as administration, management, broadcasting, education, literature, culture, arts, music, dramatics or journalism; the Member (Finance) shall be person having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of financial matters and the Member (Personnel) shall be a person having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of personnel management and administration.


4. The recommendations made by the committee constituted under sub-section (1) shall be binding for the purposes of appointments under this section.

Powers and functions of Executive Member:

The Executive Member shall be the Chief Executive of the Corporation and shall, subject to the control and supervision of the Board, exercise such power and discharge such functions of the Board as it may delegate to him.

Term of office, conditions of service, etc, of Chairman and other Members:

1. The Chairman shall be part-time Member and shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he enters upon his office.


2. The Executive Member, the Member (Finance) and Member (Personnel) shall be Whole-time Members and every such Member shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he enters upon his office or until he attains the age of sixty-two years whichever is earlier.


3. The term of office of Part-time Members shall be six years, but one-third of such Members shall retire on the expiration of every second year.


4. The term of office of an elected Member shall be two years or till he ceases to be an employee of the Corporation, whichever is earlier.


5. As soon as may be after the establishment of the Corporation, the President of India may, by order, make such provision as he thinks fit for curtailing the term of office of some of the Part-time Members then appointed in order that one-third of the Members holding office as such Part-time Members shall retire in every second year thereafter.


6. Where before the expiry of the term of office of a person holding the office of Chairman, or any other Member, a vacancy arises, for any reason whatsoever, such vacancy shall be deemed to be a casual vacancy and the person appointed or elected to fill such vacancy shall hold office for the unexpired period of the term for which his predecessor in office would have held office if such vacancy had not arisen.


7. The Whole-time Members shall be the employees of the Corporation and as such shall be entitled to such salaries and allowances and shall be subject to such conditions of service in respect of leave, pension (if any), provident fund and other matters as may be prescribed:

The major objectives of the Prasar Bharati Corporation as laid out in the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990 are as follows:

• Upholding unity and integrity of the country and the values enshrined in the Constitution.
• Promoting national integration.
• Safeguarding citizens’ rights to be informed on all matters of public interest and presenting a fair and balanced flow of information.
• Paying special attention to the fields of education and spread of literacy, agriculture, rural development, environment and health & family welfare, science & technology.
• Creating awareness about women’s issues and taking special steps to protect the interests of children, aged and other vulnerable sections of the society.
• Providing adequate coverage to the diverse cultures, sports and games and youth affairs.
• Promoting social justice, safeguarding the rights of working classes, minorities and tribal communities.
• Expanding broadcasting facilities and promoting research and development in broadcast technology.