Kher: Battle ready

Mumbai, Oct. 21 (PTI): The Centre has filed a caveat in Bombay High Court asking that it should be heard if actor Anupam Kher challenges his removal as censor board chief.

?The government has filed a caveat and also served a copy on Kher today,? said his lawyer Majeed Memon.

The Centre has urged in the caveat that in the event of Kher challenging his removal, no order should be passed until it has given its version.

Memon said the actor was contemplating filing a petition in the high court against the manner in which he was removed.

He would seek interpretation of the phrase ?pleasure of the executive? in the removal of the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification, the lawyer said. This was important to preserve the dignity and autonomy of a public institution like the censor board, he added.

Kher wrote a letter on October 18 to Union information and broadcasting secretary Navin Chawla asking him to state the reason for his removal.

?While it is the pleasure of the government to appoint or withdraw a person from the post of Censor Board chief under the present law, I am entitled to know one solitary reason for my abrupt, unceremonious and ignoble exit from the post,? he said in the letter.

Kher further said his appointment as censor board chief was for three years with effect from October 16, 2003, vide a notification dated October 24, 2003. The actor questioned how a fresh appointment could be made when this notification had not been withdrawn by an official order.

?Since I was never asked to put in papers, I have no information about relinquishing of office. If by implication I cease to hold office as chairman of CBFC, please specify from what hour and date I am deemed to be ceased as the censor board chief,? he said.

Earlier, Chawla wrote a letter to Kher informing him of the Centre?s decision to appoint actor Sharmila Tagore the censor board chief and thanking Kher for his stint.

Kher has initiated defamation proceedings against CPM leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet by filing a complaint in a magistrate?s court and is seeking criminal prosecution of the communist leader for saying the actor was an ?RSS man?.

He is also planning to file a civil suit in Bombay High Court to seek damages from Surjeet for harming his reputation, the actor?s lawyer said.

Kher has received a communication from the CPM office saying the party is in receipt of his legal notice to Surjeet and would inform the communist leader on his return from abroad.