121 WORKING OF CENTRAL BOARD OF FILM CERTIFICATION (CBFC) AND ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES OF SATYAJIT RAY FILM & TELEVISION INSTITUTE (SRFTI), KOLKATA FOR THE PERIOD FROM 2010-11 TO 2014-15 [Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee th contained in their Ninety-fourth Report (16 Lok Sabha)] MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (2018-19) ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIRST REPORT SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI PAC NO. 2160 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIRST REPORT PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (2018-19) (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) WORKING OF CENTRAL BOARD OF FILM CERTIFICATION (CBFC) AND ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES OF SATYAJIT RAY FILM & TELEVISION INSTITUTE (SRFTI), KOLKATA FOR THE PERIOD FROM 2010-11 TO 2014-15 [Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee th contained in their Ninety-fourth Report (16 Lok Sabha)] MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING Presented to Lok Sabha on: 18.12.2018 Laid in Rajya Sabha on: 18.12.2018 LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT N E W D E L H I December, 2018 /Agrahayana, 1940 (Saka) CONTENTS PAGE COMPOSITION OF THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (2018-19) (iii) INTRODUCTION (iv) CHAPTER I Report 1 CHAPTER II Observations/Recommendations which have been accepted by the Government CHAPTER III Observations/Recommendations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of the replies received from the Government CHAPTER IV Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee and which require reiteration CHAPTER V Observations/Recommendations in respect of which the Government have furnished interim replies APPENDICES/ANNEXURES I Minutes of the Twentieth Sitting of the Public Accounts * th Committee (2018-19) held on 5 December, 2018 II Analysis of the Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee contained in their Eighty-ninth Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) III Annexures ____________________________ *Not appended to the cyclostyled copy of the Report COMPOSITION OF THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (2018-19) Shri Mallikarjun Kharge - Chairperson MEMBERS LOK SABHA 2. Shri Subhash Chandra Baheria 3. Shri Sudip Bandyopadhyay 4. Shri Prem Singh Chandumajra 5. Shri Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar 6. Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab 7. Smt. Riti Pathak 8. Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” 9. Shri Janardan Singh Sigriwal 10. Shri Abhishek Singh 11. Shri Gopal Shetty 12. Dr. Kirit Somaiya 13. Shri Anurag Singh Thakur 14. Shri Shivkumar Chanabasappa Udasi 15. Dr. Ponnusamy Venugopal RAJYA SABHA 16. Prof. M. V. Rajeev Gowda 17. Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita 18. Shri Shwait Malik 19. Shri Narayan Lal Panchariya 20. Shri Sukhendu Sekhar Roy 21. Shri Bhupender Yadav 22. Shri C.M. Ramesh SECRETARIAT 1. Shri A.K. Singh - Additional Secretary 2. Shri Sanjeev Sharma - Director 3. Smt. Bharti S. Tuteja - Deputy Secretary 4. Shri Deepankar Kamble - Committee Officer (iii) INTRODUCTION I, the Chairperson, Public Accounts Committee (2018-19), having been authorised by the Committee, do present this One Hundred and Twenty First Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) on Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee contained in their Ninety-fourth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) on "Working of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and Academic Activities of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata for the period from 2010-11 to 2014-15" relating to Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. 2. The Ninety-fourth Report was presented to Lok Sabha/laid in Rajya Sabha on 28th March, 2018. Replies of the Government to the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Report were received on 9th November, 2018. The Public Accounts Committee considered and adopted the One Hundred and Twenty First Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) at their Sitting held on 5th December, 2018. Minutes of the sitting are given at Appendix-I. 3. For facility of reference and convenience, the Observations and Recommendations of the Committee have been printed in thick type in the body of the Report. 4. The Committee place on record their appreciation of the assistance rendered to them in the matter by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. 5. An analysis of the action taken by the Government on the Observations/ Recommendations contained in the Ninety-fourth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) is given at Appendix-II. NEW DELHI; MALLIKARJUN KHARGE, 13th December, 2018 Chairperson, 22 Agrahayana, 1940 (Saka) Public Accounts Committee (iv) CHAPTER - I R E P O R T This Report of the Public Accounts Committee deals with Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee contained in their Ninety-fourth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) on "Working of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)" and "Academic Activities of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata for the period from 2010-11 to 2014-15" based on Para Nos. 11.1 and 11.2 respectively of Chapter 11 of the C&AG's Report No. 11 of 2016 relating to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoI&B). 2. The Ninety-fourth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha), which was presented to Lok Sabha/laid in Rajya Sabha on 28th March, 2018, contained a total of 14 Observations/Recommendations. Observations/Recommendations Nos. 1 to 7 pertained to Para No. 11.1 on "Working of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)" and Observations/Recommendations Nos. 8 to 14 pertained to Para No. 11.2 on "Academic Activities of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata for the period from 2010-11 to 2014-15". Action Taken Notes in respect of all the Observations/Recommendations have been received from the MoI&B and these have been categorized as under: (i) Observations/Recommendations that have been accepted by the Government: Paragraph Nos. 1, 7, 8, 9,10 and 14 Total: 06 Chapter- II (ii) Observations/Recommendations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of the replies received from the Government: -NIL- Total: 00 Chapter- III (iii) Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee and which require reiteration: Paragraph Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 13 Total: 05 Chapter- IV (iv) Observations/Recommendations in respect of which the Government have furnished interim replies: Paragraph Nos. 4, 11 and 12 Total: 03 Chapter- V 3. The detailed examination of the two subjects by the Committee had revealed certain shortcomings/deficiencies and the Committee had accordingly given Observations/Recommendations in their Ninety-fourth Report. The Committee had recommended on various issues such certification of films on first come first serve basis, explicit provision for re-certification of a films, creation of a database to mitigate the risk of issuance of duplicate certificates, regular updating of syllabus by SRFTI, grant of recognition by UGC, administrative support for timely completion of courses, setting up of a research department and increasing posts to conduct regular short term courses. 4. The Action Taken Notes furnished by the MoI&B on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee contained in their Ninety-fourth Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) have been reproduced in the relevant Chapters of this Report. In the succeeding paragraphs, the Committee have dealt with the Action Taken by the Government on some of their Observations/Recommendations which either need reiteration or merit comments. 5. The Committee desire that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to furnish Action Taken Notes in respect of Observations/Recommendations contained in Chapter-I and final/conclusive Action Taken Replies in respect of the Observations/Recommendations contained in Chapter-V for which interim reply has been given by the Government within six months of the presentation of the Report to the House. I. Recommendation Para No. 2 6. The Committee noted that the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983 prescribe different time limits for various stages of certification process, totaling to 68 days and all the films are required to be certified on “first come first served” basis. The Regional Officers (ROs) have been given the discretionary powers to alter the order of examination of films, if a written request from the applicant is received and the RO concerned feels that there are grounds for an early examination, which are to be recorded in file. However, inspection of 175 records by the audit from 1st April, 2013 revealed that in 57 films (32.57 per cent) which had jumped the queue, letters from the applicant requesting for special consideration/ROs justification accepting the request were not found on records and further note that a clear ‘U/UA’ or clear ‘A’ certification was done for 135 films. Further, in 49 films (36 per cent) despite completion of certification process, time taken for issue of certificates ranged between 3 to 491 days after recommendation for grant of certificate by Examining Committee (EC). The Committee could not find any tenable reason for not issuing the certificate for months together even after clearance by the EC and desired that in light of a case study by Audit relating to fabrication of documents and favoritism by Secretary to Chairperson, detailed inquiry into the cases of inordinate delay may be conducted and the Committee may be apprised of the findings thereof. The Committee were further concerned to note that while this discrepancy could not be detected by the system it came to light when a complaint was received by the Central Vigilance Commission and, thereof, desired that the Ministry may look into the matter and streamline the system by establishing a control mechanism under which the decision involving relaxations made by Committee/ RO were subjected to review by the Board to ensure transparency in the working of CBFC. The Committee further desired to be apprised of the cases pointed out by the Vigilance wing in the Ministry/CBFC during the last 10 years and punitive action taken against those found guilty.