(a) whether there are reports in the media that the U.K. company
which bagged the broadcasting contract for production and coverage of
Commonwealth Games, 2010 was not legitimate;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
(c) whether such Information/ report was leaked in the media; and
(d) if so, the action taken by the Government against the erring
persons responsible for the leakage?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND
BROADCASTING (Dr. S. JAGATHRAKSHAKAN)
(a) &(b) Yes Sir. There have been media reports stating that Prasar
Bharati gave the production and coverage contract to an illegal entity
which gave a fake service tax registration number. As informed by Prasar
Bharati, M/s. SIS Live was a consortium of M/s. SIS Outside Broadcasts
Limited and Satellite Information Services Limited with SIS Outside Broadcasts
Limited as the lead partner. The Expression of Interest and the Request for
Proposal allowed consortium also to participate in the bid, subsequently the
consortium became a partnership firm without changing the members of the
consortium based on the legal advice during finalization of contract. As
regards the issue of fake service tax registration number the factual position
as conveyed by the Office of the Commissioner of Service Tax, Delhi is that
M/s. SIS Live had applied for on line service tax registration on 17.5.2010
for registration based on which it was automatically assigned on line PAN
based service tax registration number ABRFS4787LSD001. M/s. SIS Live was
required to submit physical documents to the Range Officer within the
stipulated time frame. As M/s. SIS Live failed to submit the requisite
documents within the given time frame, the formal service tax registration
number stated above was not given to M/s. SIS Live. M/s. SIS Live subsequently
filed an application requesting for cancellation of service tax registration.
M/s. SIS Live filed fresh application on line on 3rd September, 2010 and was
automatically assigned on line PAN based service tax registration
No. ABRFS4787LSD002. M/s. SIS Live submitted the physical documents to the
Range Officer in stipulated time frame and the service tax registration
certificate (ST-2) with service tax registration No. ABRFS4787LSD002 was issued
to them on 28th September, 2010. It was thus clarified that none of the two
PAN based service tax registrations quoted by M/s. SIS Live to Prasar Bharati
can be categorized/captioned as ‘fake’.
(c) & (d) Ministry is not aware of how such reports appeared in the media
and who provided such information. As such no action has been taken against
any person/officer.