A jewel in the sarkar!

This is an affair the Chairman, Prasar Bharati, should respond to. When Prasar Bharati advertised in Employment News on November 15, 2014, two posts of ADG (Admn/Fin) and ADG (Prog), detailing criteria and pay scales, 57 applications were received. They were duly sent for scrutiny. Since the appointment is by deputation or short-term contract, usually the ACRs of serving officers are perused and the Prasar Bharati Board finalises names from a list. A Group Captain Anand Naidu Pola had applied for both posts but was found “Not Eligible” by the Selection Committee. Similarly, another candidate, Inderjeet Kaur, was found to have submitted incomplete documents and that should have sealed her fate too. Interestingly, they were both CEO Jawhar Sircar’s candidates and here comes the twist in the tale. He got the selection criteria altered, stipulating that selection was to be made on the basis of the interview; 100 marks were to be accorded for the interview and 50 for the ACRs. Now, since the CEO has no authority to frame any such rules on his own, these criteria were rejected by the Board. Though the CEO is bound by the Board’s rules, Sircar went ahead and got both candidates absorbed. Inderjeet Kaur, despite not meeting the eligibility criteria, was absorbed on March 3, 2015. Naidu too did not meet the requirements and, additionally, there was a break in his service record. Sources in the Ministry also confirm receiving complaints against Naidu for moral turpitude. Now, the candidates who were eligible are planning to file a criminal suit against Sircar for tampering with records.