'Rebels without a cause': Arun Jaitley hits out at Censor Board members who quit
New Delhi: With the Censor Board hit by a spate of resignations, Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley said government maintains an arms length in all matters relating to film certification and charged Congress with politicising the issue.
He also said neither he nor his junior minister Rajyavardhan Rathore or any bureaucrat has ever communicated with any member of the Censor Board and that outgoing UPA appointees in the Board never raised the issue of corruption with him.
"The NDA government maintains arms length distance in all matters relating to film certification," he said in a Facebook article "Rebels Without a Cause" on the recent controversy over resignation of Censor Board Chairperson Leela Samson and some other members over clearance to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's film "Messenger of God".
Accusing Congress of politicising the issue, he said that in 2004 the government had dismissed the then Censor Board headed by eminent actor Anupam Kher merely on the ground that he was appointed by the earlier government.
"The UPA government had politicised the Censor Board...We did not wish to do that. It is regrettable that the UPA appointees have decided to politicise routine issues," he said.
Putting forth the legal position on the controversy, Jaitley said it is the Censor Board alone, which decides on issues within its jurisdiction, but an aggrieved producer has the right to move the Appeal Tribunal and if the latter disagrees with the Board, "it is part of the due process of law and not an onslaught on the Board's autonomy".
"Can a subordinate judicial authority ever cry foul if its decision is upset by an appellate authority?" he said.
Jaitley alleged Congress has politicised even the membership of the Appeal Tribunal even though the NDA government has restored its dignity by appointing a former judge of high credibility as its Chairperson.
Jaitley accused the outgoing Chairperson of Censor Board Leela Samson of being "non-functional" as she herself has said no meetings of the Board took place and cited unused Board funds returned to the Ministry.
"The charge that meetings of the Censor Board are not being held is a self condemnation. The meetings are to be convened not by the Minister or the Secretary but by the Chairperson. If the meetings are not being convened, it is for those responsible for non-functioning who must blame themselves," he said.
On corruption, he said, "If there is any corruption, the UPA appointees have themselves to blame. I only wished that the fact of corruption had been communicated even once by the Chairperson of the Censor Board to me. The non-functional Chairperson never did so."
"I have not met or spoken to any member of the Censor Board nor authorised anyone to do the same," he said.
