Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 1 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday asked the government to file a status report on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into graft allegations against B.S. Lalli, the suspended CEO of national broadcaster Prasar Bharti.

The apex court bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar also asked Lalli to file his reply to the charges filed against him.

The court gave Lalli four weeks time to file his reply and gave the government two weeks to file its rejoinder to Lalli’s reply. The court gave the government six weeks time to file the report on the status of the probe.

The apex court direction came in the wake of the Presidential reference seeking the court’s inquiry and opinion on removing Lalli.

The Section 7(1) of the Prasar Bharati Act says that its Chief Executive Officer could only be removed on the grounds of misbehaviour after a Presidential reference seeking an inquiry and opinion by the apex court.

Appearing for Lalli, counsel Anip Sachthey told the court that the entire material including the statement of facts ran into five volumes and would require more time. At this the court said that the statement of facts was not a big one.

It may be recalled that the apex court in its hearing Feb 14 had asked the government to file a statement of fact stating why it wanted to remove Lalli.

The court has asked the government to include in the details the instances of irregularities committed by Lalli and the evidence to support such allegations.

Lalli, who is facing charges of corruption, was placed under suspension on Dec 21, 2010. Lalli is an IAS officer of 1971 batch belonging to Uttar Pradesh cadre.

The Shunglu Committee that went into the dealings of the Prasar Bharati in the run up to the Commonwealth Games has found that the national broadcaster sanctioned highly inflated bills for the broadcasting of Games.