Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Monday restrained a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order quashing appointment of 25 anchors and reporters in Doordarshan (DD) News channel in 2010.

Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the central government, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and asked them to file their replies by May 10.

The court was hearing a petition filed by DD’s anchors and reporters who challenged the CAT’s September 2010 order annulling their recruitment.

The court Feb 11 deferred the matter in view of the submission of the DD staff that they had filed a review petition before the CAT.

In September 2010, the CAT quashed the appointment of 25 news anchors and reporters working for DD News, saying the Prasar Bharati had committed “irregularities” to favour some candidates, including the daughter of a union Minister to get into DD News.

The tribunal order was delivered on a petition filed by Harikesh Bahadur Singh, working with DD News.

He alleged rules for appointment were changed arbitrarily at the interview stage to favour some candidates who did not perform well in the written test.

The tribunal noted that the number of journalists, who were to be appear for the interview had been increased from 30 to 35 to accommodate Yashvi Tirath (daughter of union Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath) who ranked 33 in the written exam.

The petitioner alleged that the recruitment process in Prasar Bharati was not fair and the candidates were selected on the basis of political considerations.