CBFC June 9 meet likely to be cancelled as Pahlaj Nihalani can't attend

NEW DELHI: An important board meeting of the Central Board of Film Certification scheduled for June 9 —where a major protest by board members against chairman Pahlaj Nihalani was expected — is likely to be cancelled. The meeting to be held in New Delhi was to be presided over by minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore.

Nihalani told ET: "We have to do four meetings a year and we will do that. We will do the meeting soon but not this soon. There are over seven vacancies in the censor board which are likely to be filled soon. I think we must wait for other members to come on board too, so that the decisions are democratic," he added.

Official sources in the government said Nihalani had already conveyed to them that he will not make it to the meeting. Since the presence of the chairperson or CEO is must for a board meeting, and with the CEO too not around, this practically means there would be no meeting. In the past eight months, several members of the censor board had written to I&B minister Arun Jaitley and other officials complaining about the "dictatorial nature" of Nihalani and his way of functioning that amounted to micro-managing.

Members of the board said it will be a setback if the meeting was cancelled or postponed. Officials at the ministry of I&B refused to comment on the issue.