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NEW
DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting ministry has not been
asked to take any follow-up action on a memorandum submitted
to the Prime Minister with reference to United News of India
after Subhash Chandra-promoted Essel Group took a controlling
stake in the news agency.
Information and Broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi,
however, told Parliament today that the ministry had been
informed about the meeting between Dr Manmohan Singh and a
delegation led by former member of Parliament and senior journalist
Kuldip Nayyar in November 2006.
Dasmunsi said though he had not received details of the discussions,
the ministry had sent a background note to the Prime Minister’s
office three days after the meeting.
"No further follow-up action has been desired from this
ministry," he said.
The Delhi High Court had in January this year stayed an order
of the Company Law Board that had held the transfer of unsubscribed
shares of UNI to Media Vest, an Essel Group company, "null
and void" citing lack of transparency adopted by the
UNI board.
The Court also allowed four nominees as additional Essel directors
on the UNI board to continue participating in the UNI board
meetings without the right to vote. But Essel will have to
approach the Court for any major decision regarding UNI's
future till the matter is settled.
Media
Vest, the Essel Group company, continues to hold 51 per cent
stake in UNI that it acquired in 2006 after paying the UNI
board Rs 320 million.
Apart
from the Essel Group that owns Zee channels, other media companies
such as Gujarat Samachar and Sandhya Prakash had also shown
their interest in acquiring the management control of UNI
in 2006.
The Court had said in its order that the Rs 320 million paid
by Media Vest to UNI would remain with the UNI Board and can
be utilised for the benefit of the news agency if the board
felt so.
Earlier,
the Company Law Board had asked the UNI to immediately repay
Rs 270 million which had been kept as fixed deposit by Media
Vest, and to repay at the earliest the Rs 50 million already
utilised.
The Essel Group had made a bid for UNI in 2006 to turnaround
the newswire agency from a loss-making one to an agency of
international repute.
Launched in March 1961, UNI grew into one of the largest news
agencies in Asia, serving more than 1000 subscribers in more
than 100 locations in India and abroad. They include newspapers,
radio and television networks, web sites, government offices
and private and public sector corporations.
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