Press Council Act, 1978

5.Composition of the Council.-

(1) The council shall consist of a chairman and twenty-eight other members.

(2) The chairman shall be a person nominated by a Committee consisting of the chairman of the council of states (Rajya Sabha), the Speaker of the Houses of the People (Lok Sabha) and a person elected by the members of the council under sub-section (6) and the nomination so made shall take effect from the date on which it is notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette.

(3) of the other members-

(a) thirteen shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among the working journalists, of whom six shall be editors of newspapers and the remaining seven shall be working journalists other than editors; so, however that the number of such editors and working journalists other than editors in relation newspapers published in Indian languages shall be not less than three and four respectively;

(b) six shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among persons who own or carry on the business of management of newspapers, so, newspapers, so, however, that there shall be two representatives from each of the categories of big newspapers, medium newspapers and small newspapers;

(c) One shall nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among persons who manage news agencies;

(d) three shall be persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of education and science, law and literature and culture of whom respectively one shall be nominated by the University Grants Commission one by the Bar council of India and one by the Sahitya Academy;

(e) Five shall be members of Parliament of whom three shall be nominated by the speaker from among the members of the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and two shall be nominated by the chairman of the council of States (Rajya Sabha) from among its members:

Provided that no working journalist who owns, or carries on the business of management of any newspaper shall eligible for nomination under clause (a):

Provided further that the nominations under clause (a) and clause (b) shall be so made that among the persons nominated there is not more than one person interested in any newspaper or group of newspaper under the same control or management.

Explanation- for the purposes of clause (b), a "newspaper" shall be deemed to be-

(i) "big newspaper" if the total circulation of all its editions exceeds fifty thousand copies for each issue;

(ii) :medium newspaper" of the total circulation of all its editions exceeds fifteen thousand copies but does not exceed fifty thousand copies for each issue;

(iii) "small newspaper" of the total circulation of all its editions does not exceed fifteen thousand copies for each issue

(4) Before making any nomination under clause (a) clause (b) or clause (c) sub-section (3) the Central Government in the case of the first council and the retiring chairman of the previous council in the case of any subsequent council shall, in the prescribed manner, invite panels of names comprising twice the number to be nominated from such associations of persons of the categories referred to in the said clause (a) clause (b) or clause (c) as may be notified in this behalf by the Central Government in the case of the first council and by the council itself in the case of subsequent councils:

Provided that where there is no association of persons of the category referred to in the said clause (c) the panels of names shall be invited from such news agencies as may be notified as aforesaid.

(5) The Central government shall notify the names of persons nominated as members under sub-section (3) in the Official Gazette and every such nomination shall take effect from the date on which it is notify.

(6) The members of the council notified under sub-section (5) shall elect from among themselves in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed, a person to be a member of the committee referred to in sub-section (2) and a meeting of the members of the council for the purpose of such election shall be prescribed over by a person chosen from among themselves.

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