New Delhi: Bollywood star Kajol, singer Anoop Jalota, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's media advisor Ashok Tandon and journalist Minhaz Merchant are learnt to be on the list of seven persons, from which new part-time members for the Prasar Bharati Board would be chosen.
According to sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs has recently given security clearance to the list of seven names which had been forwarded to it by the Information and Broadcasting ministry.
These persons are being considered for appointment as part time board members of the public broadcaster. According to the Prasar Bharati Act, its Board is to have six part time members and presently there are four vacancies.
These names will now be sent to a committee, headed by Vice President Hamid Ansari and comprising Information and Broadcasting Secretary and Chairman of Press Council of India (PCI).
From the seven, four names will be finalised by the committee to function as the part-time members on the Prasar Bharati board, officials said. that the vacancies of part-time members have existed on the Prasar Bharati board for nearly a year as some of the earlier members had resigned after a change of government at the Centre, sources said.
As per the Prasar Bharati Act, part-time members have to be persons of eminence in public life and while their term of office shall be six years, one-third of them shall retire on expiration of two years.