Censor Board member from Hyderabad says government neglected Board

“We had every reason to quit,” says K C Shekhar Babu, member of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). “The government, not just the present NDA government but also the previous UPA government was utterly indifferent to the Board. We had a job to do but the I&B ministry chose to ignore any recommendations we made,” Shekhar Babu says.
K C Shekhar Babu, a Telugu film producer who has been in the industry for nearly 45 years, said the Board and also its chairperson Leela Samson had submitted their resignations after their term for 2013-14 got over in June/July 2014.However, the ministry issued orders saying the Board should continue to function until further orders.
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However, the Board has been unhappy with the government for several reasons. The recommendations that the Board made in the few meetings that it had were put on the backburner by the ministry. In the last nine months, the Board could not meet at all. “We recommended that at some of the regional officers, there could be an additional RO so that there would be no burden on the RO who, as of now, has to watch all the films,” Shekhar Babu says.
In the procedure that is followed now for clearance of films by the CBFC regional offices, though the panel that watches the films is different for each film, it is compulsory for the RO to watch all the films. The idea in recommending an additional RO was that it would ease the burden on ROs.
“What is even more pathetic is that that the posts of ROs are vacant in many places and have not yet been filled,” he says.
Shekhar Babu says it is not right at all to say that the Board functions independently having its own powers. “In the practical sense, the board can function only if the ministry facilitates its functioning. If it does not, it has no means of functioning. Imagine, the Board did not have a meeting for nine months because there were no funds,” Shekhar Babu says.
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Shekhar Babu said since the Board functioned as one body under Leela Samson, all the board members felt they should all resign.
“So far 10 members have resigned and the others also will,” Shekhar Babu said. He said the reason for the resignation was not over the clearance given to the film MSG though the clearance it got from the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) in just 24 hours.
The government appoints people from various walks of life to be members of the CBFC board and the present board also was constituted like that. “Yes, we can say they are political appointments but only deserving people with the right qualifications are appointed to the Board,” Shekhar Babu says.
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According to Shekhar Babu, the most important thing is that the government should facilitate the functioning of the board and not be lethargic towards its needs to discharge its duties.
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