By Naz Asghar New Delhi, Jul 1 (UNI) There are serious differences between the Prasar Bharati Board (PBB) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting over the composition of the proposed Recruitment Board for DD and AIR, which is causing delay in the setting up of the body, badly needed for providing the public broadcasters with competent staff, the lack of which is badly affecting the quality of stuff they produce. Plagued by a whopping vacancy of 18,000 and a large number of staff not properly qualified for their jobs, the creative wing of the DD and AIR is in crisis. With the number of Doordarshan channels increasing, and the public broadcaster widening its global foot print, the burden on the existing staff has multiplied, forcing the bosses to rely on casual staff in the programming division in the absence of a properly constituted experts body to recruit right kind of people to produce standard programmes. The PBB is pushing for a recruitment board to be headed by a person of the rank of Secretary and having its member secretary of the rank of Additional Secretary, but the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has reservations over the proposal citing various difficulties, sources told UNI. Secretary of the Ministry Bimal Julka said the delay had been caused by the change in the original proposal by the PBB as it had to be processed anew. Sources, however, said the Ministry wants the PBB to stick to the earlier proposal made in 2012, according to which the Recruitment Board was to be headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Secretary and the Member Secretary of the board was to be of the rank of joint secretary. A Cabinet note on this proposal had been prepared and sent to the Department of Personnel and Training and the Ministry of Finance. However, the PBB later had a second thought over the issue and decided that the recruitment board for a very important body like the public broadcaster should be formed on the pattern of the UPSC and it should be headed by a person of the rank of Secretary so that people could be interested in joining the body after retirement for a full five year-term. Under the earlier proposal, an additional secretary rank person was to be sent on deputation to head the recruitment Board, which the present Prasar Bharati Board dispensation finds not desirable as they say that such an appointee would not be able to devote full attention to his job. What the PBB wants is a full time appointee, like a retired officer of the rank of a secretary who would take up the assignment with full involvement. Besides the recruitment work, there would be so many other tasks for the board like consultancy on the quality of programmes, deciding on the promotion policy and process, as is the case with the UPSC, which would need a full term for a person to head the Recruitment Board, according to a senior member of the PBB. The Ministry, according to sources, has now told the PBB that their new proposal, having Secretary rank officer as chairman of the Board would need clearance by the Prime Minister's Office, and it would entail some more financial burden. The PBB has in turn conveyed to them that clearance from the PMO should be taken if that was required and it should not be the reason to hold up the new proposal. More UNI NAZ RSA 1208