PRASAR BHARTI Vs. AMARJEET SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted in the S.L.P.

(2.) Respondents herein were appointed by the Doordarshan and Akashvani. Parliament enacted the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 (for short, the Act) to provide for the establishment of a Broadcasting Corporation for India, to be known as Prasar Bharati, to define its composition, functions and powers and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The said Act though came into force on and from 15.09.1997, Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) (for short, the Corporation) came to be established 23.11.1997, the date on which the Appointed day was notified in terms of Section 3 of the Act. Section 11 of the Act provides that it shall be lawful for the Central Government to transfer to the Corporation any of the officers or other employees serving in the Akashvani and Doordarshan and engaged in the performance of those functions, where the Central Government has ceased to perform the functions which in terms of Section 12 are the functions of the Corporation. Sub-section (5) of Section 11 of the Act, however, provides that every officer or other employee transferred by an order made under sub-section (1) shall, within six months from the date of transfer, exercise his option, in writing, to be governed by the conditions enumerated therein and such option once exercised under the Act shall be final. However, once the services of the officers or employees of Akashvani and Doordarshan are transferred to the Corporation, sub-section (4) of Section 11 would be attracted which is in the following terms :

(3.) No order of deputation in respect of any of the employees or officers of the Doordarshan or Akashvani had also been passed. The officers and employees of erstwhile Akashvani and Doordarshan, however, continued to work with the Corporation. They drew their salaries and other remunerations. The same terms and conditions of their services were continued to apply to them as if they were the Central Government employees.