Almost three months after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting terminated the services of National Film Development Corporation’s (NFDC) managing director Nina Lath Gupta, the ministry has now released a new termination order – in which it has reportedly omitted the various charges levelled against her in the initial order.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the new order, dated 24 April, does away with the second paragraph of the initial order, dated 27 February.
It was in this paragraph that Gupta had been charged with non-adherence to “prescribed procedures” and engaging in several irregularities, such as the the release of advertisement spots to some private channels beyond the five percent limit, as well as a non-refund of 15 percent commission to the client ministry. The concerned paragraph also alleged that the NFDC, under Gupta’s tenure, charged a ministry a fee in excess of real expenditure.
Among other charges against Gupta that have been dropped in the new order are “non-adherence to the standard operating procedures required of a co-producer under the NFDC’s ‘Film production in various regional languages’ scheme”, as well as “non-adherence to the due process for utilising funds for restoring films”, The Indian Express further reported.
The new order without the aforementioned charges came out right after Gupta’s lawyer countered them in the Delhi High Court. Calling the allegations in the second paragraph “unfounded”, Gupta’s lawyer said:
…These allegations render the impugned order stigmatic and liable to be quashed as the impugned termination is not preceded by any disciplinary action under the Conduct, Discipline and Appeal Rules.Gupta’s lawyer, as quoted by The Indian Express
Following this, the government counsel was purportedly instructed to submit that “Paragraph 2 of the impugned order be treated as withdrawn” so as “to put an end to the controversy”.
In March, the Delhi High Court had stayed the sacking of Nina Lath Gupta after she filed a petition contesting the first termination order that the I&B Ministry had issued. Subsequently, she was reinstated as the NFDC MD.
In the meantime, the I&B Ministry had approached the CBI to conduct a preliminary enquiry into the alleged corruption and commercial irregularities under her tenure.
Gupta took charge of the NFDC in 2006. After she was sacked from the NFDC in February, various colleagues expressed their dissatisfaction with the I&B Ministry, as they praised her for being “dedicated, courageous and visionary.”
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