G Jayalal promoted as director general, AIR

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | New Delhi
G Jayalal, deputy director general, All India Radio (AIR) has been promoted as director general of the country's premier audio broadcaster.

Jayalal, who was serving as deputy DG, programming, planning and development, took charge as new the DG last week. He has been appointed on a temporary basis.

The post has been filled after a gap of more than a year, since the tenure of last DG (AIR) Brijeshwar Singh had ended in May 2007. Singh, an IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, was a full-fledged DG of AIR.

B S Lalli, CEO, Prasar Bharati, had been handling additional charge as DG of both AIR and Doordarshan till recently. Information and Broadcasting ministry had earlier objected to a retired IAS officer holding charge of the DG of DD and AIR. Lalli, a retired IAS officer, was appointed as CEO of Prasar Bharati last year.

Subsequently, the ministry was sent a list of nominees for the two posts by Prasar Bharati, and Noreen Naqvi was appointed as DG (DD) on the basis of seniority, though her appointment too is on a temporary basis.

Jayalal's appointment has also been ordered on seniority basis. He joined AIR in 1978 and had served as station director of Tirunelveli, Port Blair, Puducherry, Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore, before heading the southern zone of AIR stations as DDG.