The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), commonly known as the Censor Board is often in the news for wrong reasons from appointments to certification of films. In a latest audit report of Censor Board’s Mumbai office, the Director General of Audit (Mumbai) slammed the functioning of the Censor Board and raised many important issues. What is Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) or the Censor Board? Films are publicly exhibited in India only after their certification by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) or more commonly known as the Censor Board. The members of the panel are appointed by the Central Government by drawing people from different walks of life. At present, films are certified under 4 categories: U, UA, A & S. The CBFC has nine regional offices, one each at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Cuttack & Guwahati. Audit Report of CBFC Mumbai Office The Director General of Audit (Mumbai) conducted an audit of the Censor Board’s Mumbai office for the period from 1 October 2013 to 31 March 2015. The report became public through a reply sent to RTI activist Vihar Durve from Pune. This new audit report raises some important issues about the basic functioning of CBFC. From financial irregularities to irregularities in certification of films, the audit report is a tell all on what is wrong with the Censor Board. Below are some of the important issues raised in this report. Incomplete Data Entry of Historical records despite spending a huge sum for digitization The audit report mentioned that the data entry and digitization of historical records is incomplete despite spending a huge sum of about 190.18 lakh rupees. These records have to be preserved by the board as per the public records act and also to answer queries under the RTI act. The board holds more than 4 lakh counterfoils of censor certificates and more than 60 lakh pages of feature film files. It also has about 37000 pages of Censor Certificate Issue Register and other records totaling to about 75000 pages. It is worth noting that the Central Information Commission (CIC) had directed the board to put information relating to certification, minutes of meeting etc. on its website by 1 June, through an order in March 2015. This order is yet to be complied with. The Audit felt the need for Digitization of the records at the earliest as it found that CBFC lacked control in terms of physical management of Data. The audit report made an observation that the records were maintained in ‘pathetic’ infrastructural facilities. There is no Fire-warning system installed in CBFC’s premises and no training has been imparted to the concerned staff responsible for record keeping. By the end of Mar 2012, data of nearly 1,10,000 films had yet to be digitized which is 45% of the films. In other words, 55% of the work was completed in 2.25 years while the original plan was to complete this entire work in 3 years. Though computerization, up gradation of application software, website of CBFC were all part of the 12 Five year plan, there has been no concrete plan to take this forward. The Audit report found the whole process of digitization in jeopardy despite spending 1.9 crore rupees. Disparity in issuance of certificates & Non-observance of time limit for certification process Rule 41 of the Cinematograph rules prescribe the following time limits for the certification process: The total time limit prescribed for the certification process, from the date of receipt of the application to the date of the issue of the certificate is 68 days (with cuts) and 40 days (without cuts). The audit report found that certificates were issued to films in violation of these guidelines. The Audit team conducted a test check of 55 of 99 cases of the films for which CBFC issued certificates within 7 days. From the detailed analysis of the trends in issue of certification of films, it was observed that the board scrutinized the application on the date of receipt of application and referred the films for examination by the Examination Committee (EC) within 2-7 days from the date of receipt of application. EC examined the films within the same period and cleared the films for certification without any cuts. Board issued the certificates on the same day or on the subsequent day of clearance by EC.