New Delhi: Government may soon take a decision on making the deemed deputation status of Prasar Bharati employees a rule, as a Cabinet note for the purpose has been forwarded by it to the Union Cabinet.

"The note in this regard has been sent to the Union cabinet and the matter is with them now," Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Sushma Singh told PTI here today.

The cabinet note seeks to amend Section 11 of Prasar Bharati Act 1990,which gives an option to Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) employees, who are currently working under deemed deputation with Prasar Bharati, to either go back to their parent bodies or continue working with Prasar Bharati, which is an autonomous body.

There are around 40,000 DD and AIR employees who are currently working on deemed deputation in Prasar Bharati.

The ministry s action has come after it had been given six weeks time by a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice S B Sinha on September 29 to facilitate the change in the rule.

Last week ministry officials had said that they were in the final stages of collecting views on the issue from the concerned Ministries of Law, Finance and Personnel, before sending the cabinet note for the Union Cabinet s approval.

Once the cabinet note is approved by the Union Cabinet, the necessary steps to amend the Act for making deemed deputation status a rule would be taken.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Prasar Bharati in September this year, had decided to float the cabinet note after Supreme Court on an earlier occasion too, had pulled up the public broadcaster for keeping its employees on deemed deputation for such a long time, saying it was not a permanent solution.

Source : PTI