Pahlaj Nihalani. Photo courtesy: India-forums.com Pahlaj Nihalani. Photo courtesy: India-forums.com

Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani has been appointed the new Censor Board chairperson on Monday.

Nine new members have also been appointed.

According to a government release, "in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 (37 of 1952) read with rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, the Central Government is pleased to appointShri Pahlaj Nihalani as Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification in an honorary capacity from 19th January, 2015 for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier."

"Further, In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 (37 of 1952) read with rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, the Central Government is pleased to appoint the following persons as members of the Central Board of Film Certification with immediate effect for a period of three years and until further orders," it stated.

The new members are Mihir Bhuta, Prof. Syed Abdul Bari, Ramesh Patange, George Baker, Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, Jeevitha, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, S Ve Shekhar and Ashoke Pandit.

Earlier, after Censor Board chief Leela Samson, nine more members of Censor Board resigned on Saturday amid a row over controversial film Messenger of God featuring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Arundhati Nag, Ira Bhaskar, Lora Prabhu, Pankaj Sharma, Rajeev Masand, Sekharbabu Kancherla, Shaji Karun, Shubhra Gupta and TG Thyagarajan have sent a joint resignation letter to Minister of State in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry Rajyavardhan Rathore.