The interim CEO of media outlet NDTV, Suparna Singh has resigned from her post with immediate effect. This was informed by NDTV in fillings made with BSE and NSE as per disclosure norms.
In the regulatory filing, NDTV said, “Singh has informed the company that she will step down from her responsibilities as Interim CEO with immediate effect.” NDTV said that in accordance to a board resolution on December 4, 2017, the board resolved to appoint Suparna Singh as its CEO on receiving the receipt of requisite approval from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The company promptly applied for approval on December 12, 2017, but is yet to receive the approval from the ministry. Therefore, “Singh and the organisation entered into an appointment agreement to appoint Singh as the CEO contingent upon the receipt of such approval,” NDTV added.
In the meanwhile, Suparna Singh continued to act as the interim CEO of the company. NDTV said in the disclosure that the matter will be placed before board and committee members for consideration.
Suparna Singh, who holds a Master’s degree in Television, Radio and Film from Syracuse University, has been associated with NDTV since 1994 and has worked on several positions at the media organisation. She was elevated to the post of CEO after Vikram Chandra, the former CEO, had resigned from the post in 2016. It is understood that she only resigned from the post of interim CEO and she will continue in NDTV as a journalist.
NDTV is facing multiple cases related to violation of FDI norms, Income Tax violation, and non-compliance with disclosure norms. CBI is probing a case against NDTV in relation to a Rs 375 crore loan from ICICI Bank and a corresponding wrongful loss of Rs 46 crore to the bank. There is a chain of borrow, repay and borrow where Roys took a series of loans in 2008 as they sought to buy back a large chunk of NDTV shares from the market, allegedly violating foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in a 2007-09 investment, a charge denied by the company.
An FIR was filed against Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy, NDTV, RRPR Holdings Pvt Ltd and unknown officials of ICICI Bank by a company called Quantum Securities Limited in June 2017. The charges levelled were those of criminal conduct, conspiracy and cheating. QSL is a shareholder both in NDTV and ICICI and filed the FIR as an aggrieved party of the alleged misdeeds.
Earlier this month the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) had upheld a SEBI order imposing a penalty of ₹2.10 crore on NDTV and ₹3 lakhs each on 3 directors for violation of disclosure norms. It is alleged that the company and its directors failed to inform the stock exchanges about a tax demand of ₹450 crore served by the income tax department.
