NFDC chief Nina Lath fired for favouring Sun TV, irregularities and failure to adhere to procedure

The ministry of Information and Broadcasting has terminated the services of Nina Lath Gupta, the managing director of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) on the grounds of irregularities. [caption id=“attachment_4371947” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Formed NFDC managing director Nina Lath. Image from Twitter/@htTweets[/caption] “The President has approved the termination of her services as managing director of NFDC. The President’s approval has been communicated to the administrative ministry,” said an official of the Department of Personnel & Training, according to a Quint report. The termination happened due to the NDFC’s (a public sector unit) failure to “adhere to prescribed procedures” under Lath’s charge , according to a Hindustan Times report. According to a report by The Print, the ‘procedural lapses’ that the I&B ministry discovered were release of advertisement spots to certain private channels (specifically Sun TV Network) in excess of the prescribed 5% limit stated in the electronic media policy, non refund of commission (15%) to the client ministry, along with charging the I&B Ministry an extra Rs 4.29 crore than the actual expenditure. Additionally, the ministry also cited non-adherence to standard operation procedures for the co-production of regional movies along with the NFDC’s failure to utilise the allotted funds for the restoration of movies as an oversight. The audit reportedly revealed that the NFDC had failed to maintain proper records, and that there were “over payments” running into lakhs for Sun TV.  “There are long established procedures and policies followed by Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) in media planning and monitoring of TV channels which were flouted,” said an official, according to an Economic Times report. Lath was appointed as the managing director of the NFDC in 2006. In August 2017, the I&B Ministry gave the NFDC the charge of hosting India’s biggest film event — the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the charge of which was previously given to the directorate of film festivals (DFF).