``How can Kejriwal legitimise Aggarwal's unconstitutional position? If the intention was to get to the bottom of any wrongdoing, the CEO could have advertised for an expert instead of choosing someone like Aggarwal who is a medical graduate from Banaras Hindu University and whose only familiarity with finance is his stint at playing the markets,'' said Narain, who is the editor of the Kalchakra video magazine.

The Prasar Bharati board, however, wasunmoved by even this revelation. ``I will ask for his bio-data but we have already endorsed Aggarwal's appointment. We were convinced by his fact-finding expertise,'' said Prasar Bharati board member Rajendra Yadav. He added that he didn't think Aggarwal's PIL against Gill would prejudice his inquiry into the consortium, of which the former CEO is considered the chief architect.

But the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is clearly miffed at not having been told of Aggarwal's appointment and is contemplating suitable action. A senior official reiterated today that the Ministry's concurrence to the appointment ``may not be presumed''.

To add to the drama, Stracon, which took the lead in forming the sports consortium, has refused to revise the agreement for the rights to the cricket World Cup. Nor is it ready to accept Doordarshan's version that it has gained only Rs 10 crore from the deal during 1998-99. Stracon maintains it has paid Rs 109 crore in minimum guarantee revenue but DD says this sumincludes the licence fee and customisation of the live feed.

With only 34 days remaining for the World Cup, the agreement for which was signed in November 1998, time is running out for DD and the Stracon-led consortium to arrive at a resolution of the problem.