The official who declared the DJ Doll album fit for ‘‘unrestricted’’ viewing has been divested of his charge as officer of the Censor Board for giving another certificate to the girl in thong, this time with a UA tag. Officials in the Ministry said he has been removed to facilitate probe by the Censor Board of Film Certification.The Kaanta Laga number — that had first caught the attention of I&B officials prompting them to issue showcause notices against three channels airing the song — was first given a ‘‘U’’ certificate by Pramod Bhatnagar, director in the Publications Division of the ministry. He gave a UA certificate to an 88 minute album that came his way a few days later. Under rules, UA cannot be aired on television channels under normal viewing time.The ministry has no way of checking whether the album being aired on television is U or UA as the Censor Board does not keep copies of short films. Even as the scrutiny of the certificates was still on by the Censor Board for Film Certification, Bhatnagar was relieved of his responsibilities as Censor Board official a few days ago.As is the practice, officials from the ministry double up as censor board officials and they have no fixed tenure. Bhatnagar’s place has now been taken by IAS officer Sujata Chaturvedi.
