Waking up to a series of administrative and financial irregularities in the country’s prestigious organisation —lalit Kala Akademi — for the past few years, the Union Culture Ministry has finally taken over the management of the beleaguered organisation. KK Mittal, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, has been appointed as the Central Government’s administrator for the prestigious organisation from April 1 until further orders.
“Keeping in view the Akademi’s beleaguered administration and the substantial public interest involved in the Akademi’s vibrant and transparent functioning, the Central Government through the Ministry of Culture has invoked the relevant provisions in lalit Kala Akademi’s Memorandum of Association for taking over the Akademi’s management with effect from April 1,” said a statement from the Ministry.
The Akademi’s General Council and Executive Board have been non-functional since 2013 due to certain court cases. Also, the Akademi’s principal executive officer i.e., the Secretary is currently under suspension with departmental inquiry proceedings having been ordered against him by the Akademi’s Chairman, added the statement.
Instituted in 1954 as an offshoot of the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision to carve for the nation a cultural and artistic center, the organisation has been accorded the task of preserving the “glorious traditions of the past” and enriching them by the work of modern artists. However, in the past few years it has fallen to mismanagement, both administrative as well as financial.
The Akademi was inaugurated on August 5, 1954, by the then Minister for Education, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.