For the democratic functioning of the society, freedom of press and media is fundamental. However no freedom can be absolute, similarly, the freedom provided to the press is subject to certain restrictions and regulations.

 One such Act which deals with regulations imposed on print media is The Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act, 1867(25 of 1867). The said act makes registration with the concerned authority mentioned compulsory along with laying down a provision for preservation of books and periodicals printed in whole of India. On 25^th November, 2019 the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released a public notice in order to seek public consultation on the draft of Registration of Press and Periodicals (RPP) Bill, 2019. This bill, if passed, will be a replacement to the existing law – The Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867.

The bill seeks to get away with all the earlier provisions of the PRB Act, 1867, enabling the Central and State Government to formulate appropriate rules/regulations to regulate the criteria/ conditions for issuing Government advertisements in newspapers, accreditation of newspapers and such other facilities for newspapers.[1] Through the draft bill, the Ministry proposed to simplify the registration procedure by creating a Press Registrar General along with laying down a simple system of registration of e-papers. This article attempts to briefly summarize features of the draft bill as are mentioned above.

I.     Ambiguous Definitions

The RPP Bill leaves space for concern by making major changes some of which are brought to light through this article. It is widely attacked for vague and ambiguous definitions. “News on digital media” means “news in digitized format that can be transmitted over the internet, computer or mobile networks and includes text, audio, video and graphics.”[2] It may lead to various interpretations as its ambit looks broad, such as-

1.   Posts put on social media or blogs

2.    It might also include e-newspapers of the existing newspapers

 Imposing registration requirement on the former is excessive as there are thousands of individuals who share news content on a daily basis. It may lead to violation of  fundamental right of Freedom of Speech and Expression of such individuals guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution as the ambit of interpretation of the said definition is broad. The latter interpretation is a result of three other definitions, namely- publication[3], publish[4], publisher[5] given in the bill.

Due to this ambiguity, who exactly is to register under Section 18 of the RPP Bill can’t be clearly understood. Till date no news website has had to register with the government, thus making this provision first of its kind.

II.     Editors to be Indians

“Editor of a periodical means an individual, whether called editor, chief editor, group editor or editor-in-chief or by any other name called, being a citizen of India and is ordinarily resident in India responsible for the selection and finalization of the content of a periodical”[6]

This provision of the draft bill makes it mandatory for the editor of the periodical to be an Indian citizen. The current law (PRB Act) does not have such a provision. On one hand this provision proposed will be feasible as it is difficult to hold a person of some other nationality accountable in Indian courts, if the need be. While on the other hand the provision can be challenged as a violation to Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. Thus the said provision has its own pros and cons.

III.     Registration Powers with the Press Registrar General

Section 5(1) under Part III of the bill creates a provision for the appointment of the Press Registrar General by the Central Government. The bill seeks to polarize the system of registration of the periodicals or newspapers with the Press Registrar General according to the procedure laid down under the bill. He is also empowered with the responsibility to revise Certificate of Registration, receive annual statements from the owners of the periodicals, impose fines or penalties, revoke or suspend the registration of the periodicals.[7]

However the bill has proposed to register the publishers of the news on digital media with the Registrar of Newspapers of India.[8]

IV.     Entities not allowed to bring out Publication

The bill allows anyone who is a citizen of India to bring out its publication, provided that such a person has not been convicted by the court for offence involving terrorist or unlawful activity and having done anything against the security of state.[9]

While it is stated that the meanings of ‘terrorist and unlawful activity’ shall be traced to the Section 2 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the draft fails to define what shall be included under the term ‘security of state’. It thus leads to lacunae and disagreements among the parties involved.

V.     Power vested with Government

The Press Registrar General shall be bound by the decision of the Central Government in case a question of policy occurs. The Central Government will also be immune from legal proceedings against it. It has the power to frame rules in accordance with the provisions mentioned under Section 22 of the Registration of Press and Periodicals Bill, 2019.

VI.     Provision of Prosecution of Publishers to be struck down

One of the important features of the new RPP Bill, 2019 is to do away with the provision of prosecution of publishers. The present Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act, 1867 contains provisions under which for an offence listed under the act, a publisher or whosoever concerned shall be punished with a fine or imprisonment or by both on account of conviction. On the contrary the draft bill seeks to punish the concerned only with a fine as mentioned under Part V of the said Bill.[10]  

VII.     Appellate Board

In case of grievances, an appellate board may be called by the Press Registrar General and its decision will be consider as final. This is mentioned under Section 16 of Part VI of the Registration of Press and Periodicals (RPP) Bill, 2019.    

         The objective of the present Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act, 1867 is to regulate the newspapers and press systematically and it is much based on the colonial era. The major change that the draft bill proposes distinct from the PRB Act is a control over digital media. The bill does not amplify the Freedom of Speech and Expression but some of the reliefs like prohibition on prosecution will surely be an improvement for the publishers. Due to the pros and cons as mentioned above, only time can answer whether it would be better than the existing law or will be subject to public objection, if passed.