THE
REGISTRATION OF NEWSPAPERS (CENTRAL) RULES, 1956
1. Short title
and commencement.
2. Definitions.
4. Transmission
of copies of declaration, etc., to the person concerned and to the Press
Registrar.
5. Delivery
of copies of newspaper to the Press Registrar.
6. Annual Statement.
7. Maintenance
of the Register.
8. Particulars
to be published in every newspaper
9. Furnishing
of extracts from the Register.
10. Certificate
of registration.
11. Annual Report.
12. Penalty.
THE REGISTRATION OF NEWSPAPERS (CENTRAL) RULES, 1956
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 20-A of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 (25 of 1867), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely: —
1. Short title and
commencement. —
(1) These rules may be called the Registration of Newspaper (Central) Rules, 1956.
(2) They shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 1956.
2. Definitions. —In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, —
(a) “Act” means the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867;
(b) “Form” means a Form specified in the Schedule to these rules;
(c) “Publisher” means the publisher of a newspaper.
3. Form of declaration. —Every declaration made under section 5 of the Act shall be in Form 1 and the person making the declaration shall give full and true particulars therein.
4. Transmission of copies of declaration, etc., to the person concerned and to the Press Registrar. —A copy of every declaration attested by the Official Seal of a Magistrate and a copy of every order refusing to authenticate any declaration shall be sent by the Magistrate to the person making and subscribing the declaration and to the Press Registrar by registered post:
Provided that in the case of a person making and subscribing the declaration, any such copy may be delivered to him personally if he is present at the time when the attestation is made or, as the case may be, the order of refusal is passed.
5. Delivery of copies of
newspaper to the Press Registrar. —
(1) Every publisher shall within 48 hours of the publication of an issue of his newspaper, send to the Press Registrar one copy of the issue by post or by a messenger:
Provided that where any newspaper publishers more than one edition under the same declaration and the retail selling price charged for, or the number of pages contained in, an issue of any such edition is different from an issue of any other edition, one copy of the issue of each such edition shall also in like manner be sent to the Press Registrar.
(2) For the purposes of sub-rule (1)—
(a) Copies of the issues of newspapers published in Hindi, Urdu or English and of newspapers published in two languages, one of which is Hindi, Urdu or English, shall be sent to the Press Registrar in Shimla;
(b) Copies of the issues of newspapers published in any of the regional languages specified in column I below shall be sent to the Officer incharge of the Regional Office of the Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, at the place specified in the corresponding entry in column II and the officer shall take delivery of such newspaper on behalf of the Press Registrar: —
Punjabi Jalandhr
Bengali Calcutta
Oriya Cuttack
Assamese Gauhati
Tamil Madras
Telugu Hyderabad
Malayalam Trivandrum
Marathi Bombay
Gujarati Ahmedabad
Kannada Bangalore
Konkani Bombay
Portuguese Bombay
Kashmiri Srinagar;
(c) Copies of the issues of newspapers published in any other language shall be sent to the Press Registrar in Shimla.
(1) Every publisher shall, in respect of his newspaper or each of his newspaper, furnish to the Press Registrar an annual statement relating to each calendar year in Form II containing the particulars specified therein, so as to reach the Press Registrar on or before the last day of February of the following year.
NOTE. —The statement to be submitted on or before the last day of February, 1957 need relate only to the period from 1st July, 1956 to 31st December, 1956.
(2) Whenever there is a change in the retail-selling price of a newspaper as furnished in any statement, the publisher shall, within 48 hours of such change, send intimation thereof to the Press Registrar.
7. Maintenance of the
Register.—
(1) The Press Registrar shall maintain a Register of Newspapers in Form III.
(2) The pages of the Register shall be numbered consecutively and entries in respect of a newspaper shall start from a fresh page. When particulars enumerated in Form I have been entered in the Register in respect of a newspaper, the Press Registrar shall allot a registration number to that newspaper, Initial entries in the Register and subsequent changes, if any, shall be duly authenticated under the signature of the Press Registrar.
(3) The Press Registrar shall, in respect of every newspaper, cause relevant entries to be made in the Register and before making any entry therein, he may make such verification of the statements furnished to him by the newspaper as he may consider necessary.
8. Particulars to be
published in every newspaper.—
(1) The publisher shall publish in every issue of his newspaper the retail-selling price of each copy, or, when there is no such selling price, shall publish in an appropriate place that it is for free distribution. The publisher shall also publish in the first issue after the last day of February of each year the particulars specified in Form IV.
(2 Every copy of every newspaper shall have printed legibly on it the names of the printer, publisher, owner and editor and the place of its printing and publication in the following form:
Printed by...................and published by..................on behalf of... (name of owner)..................and printed at..................(place of printing)..................and published at...................(place of publication)....................Editor.......................
NOTE.—This form may be modified to suit the circumstances of each paper, for example, where the printer, publisher and owner are the same the imprint line can be: Printed, published and owned by...................... The editor’s name, however, should be given separately in every case.
9. Furnishing of extracts from the Register.— The Press Registrar shall, on an application made to him in writing and on payment of a fee of five rupees in respect of each newspaper, furnish to the applicant extracts from the Register duly certified by him.
10. Certificate of registration.—
(1) Where a publisher makes a declaration before a Magistrate, the Press Registrar shall, as soon as practicable, after receipt of the copy of the declaration, issue to the publisher a certificate of registration in Form V.
(2) On receipt of information furnished by the publisher of a newspaper and upon allotting under rule 7(2) a registration number to that newspaper, the Press Registrar may also issue to the publisher a certificate of registration in Form V.
(3) Whenever there is any change in the particulars mentioned in the Certificate of Registration issued under sub-rule (1) or sub-rule (2), the publisher shall, as soon as may be, send intimation of such change to the Press Registrar and also return to him such Certificate; and on receipt of such information and Certificate, the Press Registrar shall cause the relevant entries to be made in the Register and re-issue the Certificate with the changes.
(4) The Certificate of registration shall cease to be effective as soon as the declaration under which the newspaper is published becomes void or a newspaper is removed from the Register of Newspapers maintained by the Press Registrar.
11. Annual Report.—The Press Registrar shall submit to the Central Government on or before the 30th September of each year, an annual report containing information and statistics about the Press in India, and in particular, circulation trends in different categories of newspapers and the trends in the direction of common ownership of more than one newspaper.
12 Penalty.—A contravention of any of the provisions of these rules shall be punishable, with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees.
Form
of Declaration
(See Rule 3)
I,…….., declare that I am the *printer or *publisher or *printer and publisher of the newspaper entitled……..to be *printed at………..and *published at………….or to be *printed and published at……………..and that particulars in respect of the said newspaper given hereunder are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
1. Title of the newspaper.
2. Language(s) in which it is (to be), published.
3. Periodicity of its publication.
(a) Whether a daily, tri-weekly, be-weekly, weekly, fortnightly, or otherwise.
(b) In the case of a daily, please state whether it is a morning or evening newspaper?
(c) In the case of a newspaper other than a daily, please state the day(s)/date(s) on which it is (to be) published.
4. Retail selling price of the newspaper per copy.
(a) If the newspaper is for free distribution, please state that it is “for free distribution”.
(b) If it has only an annual subscription and no retail price, please state the annual subscription.
5. Publisher’s name.
Nationality.
(a) Whether a citizen of India?
(b)` If a foreigner, please state the country of origin.
Address.
6. Place of Publication (please give the complete postal address).
7. Printer’s name.
Nationality.
(a) Whether a citizen of India
(b) If a foreigner, please state the country of origin.
Address.
8. Name(s) of the printing press(es) where the newspaper is actually printed and the true and precise description of the premises on which the press(es) is/are installed.
9. Editor’s name.
Nationality.
(a) Whether a citizen of India ?
(b) If a foreigner, please state the country of origin.
Address.
10. Owner’s name(s).
(a) Please state the particulars of individual(s) or of the firm, Joint Stock Company, trust, co-operative society or association which owns the newspaper.
(b) Please state whether the owner owns any other newspaper and, if so, its name, periodicity, language and place of publication.
11. Please state whether the declaration is in respect of—
(a) A new newspaper, or
(b) An existing newspaper,
(c) In case the declaration falls under item (b), the reason for filing the fresh declaration.
Date_____________________________
Signature__________________________
Name (in block letters)_________________________
Designation______________________________
*Strike out whatever is not applicable.
NOTE.—Separate declarations should be filed by the printer and the publisher, unless the printer and the publisher is the same person.
See Rule 6 (1)
Annual Statement in respect of the newspaper entitled……….for the period ending 31st December, 19……….
Serial Items Details of Particulars Remarks No. particulars of changes, if any, during the year with date(s) of changes
1 2 3 4 5
1. Declaration under which the newspaper is published .
2. Registration number of the newspaper . . . .
3. Title of the newspaper . . . . . . .
4. Language(s) in which the newspaper is published
5. Periodicity of its publication:
(a) Whether a daily, tri-weekly, and be-weekly, weekly, fortnightly or otherwise . . . . .
(b) In the case of a daily, please state whether it is a morning or evening newspaper . . . .
(c) In the case of a newspaper other than a daily, please state the day(s)/date(s) on which it is ………………
6. Publisher’s Name . . . . . .
Nationality . . . . . . .
(a) Whether a citizen of India ? . . .
(b) If a foreigner, please state the country of origin
Address . . . . . . . .
7. Place of publication (please give the complete postal address).. . . .
8. Printer’s Name……….
Nationality………
(a) Whether a citizen of India ? . . . .
(b) If a foreigner please state the country of origin
Address . . . . . . . .
9. Name(s) of the printing press(es) where printing a conducted and the true and precise description of the premises on which the press(es) is/are installed………
10. Editor’s Name…………
Nationality…………
(a) Whether a citizen of India ?…………
(b) If a foreigner, please state the country of origin
Address………..
11. (a) Size of the page of the newspaper in metres and its description, e.g. demy, crown, etc……….
(b) Average number of pages per week in respect of daily, be-weekly, the-weekly and weekly newspapers .
(c) Average number of pages per issue in respect of other newspapers………..Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total
12. Number of days of publication in the year
I, ..........................................., hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best (Name in block letters) of my knowledge and belief.
Date..... ......................... Signature of Publisher................