Govt sacks Natnl Film Dev Corp MD Nina Lath Gupta

NEW DELHI: The ministry of information and broadcasting has sacked National Film Development Corporation managing director Nina Lath Gupta for allegedly favouring the Sun TV Network and for releasing advertisements to private channels beyond the 5% limit prescribed udner the government’s Electronic Media Policy. NFDC, under Lath Gupta, has also been charged with not refunding 15% commission to ministries that get ads issued through NFDC, and for the corporation’s failure to follow due process in utilising funds for restoring films.
The main trigger, though, sources said, was that NFDC was charging commissions for conducting minstry-related, including a sum of nearly Rs 4.5 crore for the recently-concluded Khelo India. NFDC had also attempted to extract a commission by organising the National Youth Festival. Eventually, NFDC was not contracted to do the job.

Gupta was sacked with immediate effect and was not allowed to serve the customary three-month notice period.

The move comes at a time when NFDC has locked horns with public broadcaster Prasar Bharati over unpaid dues amounting to Rs 2.92 crore. In a run up to the International Film Festival of India, NFDC had hired the services of a private firm for live coverage of IFFI. Opposing the decision to hire a third party when Doordarshan was well equipped to cover the programme itself, senior DD officials, in the last board meeting on February 15, refused to settle the payment and said they had already recorded their objections to the decision in writing.

Sources said that NFDC ‘flouted’ norms laid down by the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) and the Electronic Media Advertising (EMA), including an official diktat to undertake a comprehensive internal audit. The audit, sources said, showed that NFDC not only failed to maintain proper records, but also showed “over payments” along with issuing tender that were not in line with vigilance guidelines.

The specific allegation of ‘overpayment’ against NFDC while being led by Lath Gupta suggests that the additional payments ran into lakhs and was directed at Sun TV for the release of TV spots under EMA policy. An enquiry report said NFDC went out of the way to “favor certain individuals and organisations” while releasing advertisements of client ministries, government departments and PSUs to TV channels, and “over invoicing” was done to some channels, including the Sun TV Network. “In one instance, over-invoicing allegedly exceeded 50%”, an official said.