By IANS,
New Delhi : The union cabinet has ended the uncertainty over the status of employees of state-owned broadcasters All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan with its decision Thursday to put them on par with central government staff.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet presided over by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is recuperating after a heart bypass operation.
The staff continued to be on “deemed deputation” to the Prasar Bharati Corporation, under which the broadcasters function, an official statement said. There had been uncertainty about their status since they worked in an autonomous organisation.
The staff of the broadcasting organisations had been resisting a move by the government to make them transferable to Prasar Bharati and wished to work only with AIR and Doordarshan.
“They encountered difficulties in getting facilities of CGHS (central government health scheme), general pool accommodation and admission of their children to Kendriya Vidyalayas (central schools) as they were not treated as government servants but as employees of an autonomous organisation,” the statement said.
The cabinet took the decision “to end the uncertainty”.
The statement said the employees would be covered by the pension scheme, effective since Jan 1, 2004. They would be entitled to the same pay scale as that of central government employees, but not any deputation allowance.
Prasar Bharati Corporation was constituted in November 1997 as a statutory body of the government and the two broadcasters were brought under it.