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Unit 13: Acts Related to Library Legislation

13.2 Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 (PRB Act) Notes

The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech and expression to all its citizens.
Newspapers constitute a potent medium for exercise of this freedom. In our country, the
publication of newspapers is regulated primarily by the Press and Registration of Books Act,
1867. The Act seeks to regulate the operation of printing presses and newspapers and registration
and preservation of copies of such newspapers. Section 5 of the Act lays down the rule under
which a newspaper may be published, the most important being the requirement of subscribing
to the printer and publisher thereof the following declaration.
The Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 is the oldest of the existing Press Laws in India. It
has been amended in the years of Independence but the amendments have been made to meet
specific situations. No attempt was made to review the Act in totality and bring it in line with
the needs and aspirations of the Press in a vibrant democracy like India. There has been no
demand from the Press for a thorough overhaul of the Act possibly because it is merely regulatory
in nature, the procedure it lays down may be cumbersome but the penalties are light and in
many areas the tasks are mentioned but the responsibility for discouraging them is not assigned.
There are many anomalies in the original Act. These have increased because of amendments
made from time to time with good intentions, no doubt, but these have further complicated
matters.
In its report, the Second Press Commission had made detailed recommendations about changes
in the Act. In 1988, a Bill amending the Act was introduced in Parliament. There was an outcry
because the Bill gave sweeping powers to the district authorities to enter the premises of a
newspaper establishment. There was the natural fear that power-drunk magistrates and police
might misuse these powers. Before anything could be done to rectify these defects, make the
procedure for filing the declaration for a newspaper easier and to remove other anomalies in the
Act and the Bill, the Lok Sabha was dissolved and the Bill died a natural death.

!
Caution Busy as successive governments have been with other pressing issues, there has
been no concrete action about a thorough overhaul of the PRB Act and the press continues
to be regulated by an archaic piece of legislation which is totally out of tune with prevailing
conditions and is full of anomalies.
The anomalies begin with the preamble of the Act itself. It says that the Act is for the regulation
of printing presses and newspapers, for the preservation of copies of books and newspapers
printed in India and for the registration of such books and newspapers “What there may have
been little justification for a common legislation for books and newspapers 133 years ago, in
today’’ conditions such clubbing together of newspapers and books is ridiculous because their
needs are totally different. As for preservation, in 1954 the National Libraries Act was passed. It
was meant specifically for delivery of books and newspapers to the national libraries. One can
understand that copies of books should be preserved but is it necessary or possible to preserve
each and every copy of the more than 40,000 newspapers of various frequencies and in various
languages in India to be preserved. Who is to provide the funds and the space for this exercise?
Both will increase every year and no Government will be able to provide these. The Act does not
mention as to who is to preserve the copies of newspapers? The framers of the Act possibly saw
that the task was impossible and therefore, did not mention the office to perform it. But if the
task is impossible of performance who continue to retain it in the Act and thus make a mockery
of it? There is thus an urgent need to remove books from the purview of the Act and also to
remove the mention about preservation of copies of newspapers.

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