1. THE REGISTRATION OF
NEWSPAPER
Lakshminarayanan Alaguraja
Advocate

2. INTRODUCTION
• The Office of the Registrar of Newspapers for
India, more popularly known as RNI, is a
government office in India. It came into being on 1
July 1956, on the recommendation of the First
Press Commission in 1953 and by amending the
Press and Registration of Books Act 1867.
• The Press and Registration of Books Act contains
the duties and functions of the RNI. On account of
some more responsibilities entrusted upon RNI
during all these years, the office is performing
both statutory as well as some non-statutory
functions.

3. STATUTORY FUNCTIONS
• Compilation and maintenance of a Register of Newspapers containing
particulars about all the newspapers published;
• Issue of Certificate of Registration to newspapers published under valid
declaration;
• Scrutiny and analysis of annual statements sent by the publishers of
newspapers every year under PRB Act containing information on circulation,
ownership etc;
• Informing district magistrates about availability of titles, to intending
publishers for filing declaration;
• Ensuring that newspapers are published in accordance with the provisions
of PRB Act 1867 and the rules made thereunder;
• Verification under Section 19-F of PRB Act, of circulation claims furnished by
the publishers in their Annual Statements; and
• Preparation and submission to the Government on or before December 31
each year, a report containing all available information and statistics about
the press in India with particular reference to the emerging trends in
circulation and in the direction of common ownership units etc.

4. NON-STATUTORY FUNCTIONS
• Formulation of Newsprint Allocation Policy -
Guidelines and issue of Eligibility Certificate to the
newspapers to enable them to import newsprint
and to procure indigenous newsprint;
• Assessing and certifying the essential need and
requirement of newspaper establishments to
import printing and composing machinery and
allied materials.

5. PRESS AND REGISTRATION OF
BOOKS ACT, 1867
• The Printer and Publisher should make a
declaration about their official status in the
presence of District Magistrate.
• The declaration should contain the complete
details about the news paper such as the
language of publication and the place of
publication.
• Before authentication the Magistrate should
enquire with the Registrar of News Papers
that all the requisite provisions of sec 6 of the
PRB Act have been fulfilled.

6. Cont…
• According to the Act, no newspaper or
periodical should bear a title which is the
same or similar to any other newspaper or
periodical already being published, either
in the same language or in the same State,
unless the latter is also owned by the
same person.

7. TITLE VERIFICATION
• The Printer /Publisher has to submit
the details regarding the proposed
title to the Magistrate and request
Him to have the title verified by the
Press Registrar.
• On the basis of the details provided
by the Registrar, ‘Title verification’
letter can be obtained.

8. DECLARATION
• After getting the title verified the
printer and the publisher should
make a declaration as per the
Registration of Newspapers (central)
Rules 1956.
• If the Printer and Publisher are in
different places, then they should
make a separate Declaration and
send it to the Magistrate.

9. The Magistrate will either authenticate
the declaration or issue an order
refusing to authenticate it, as the case
may be.
The Magistrate will send a copy of the
authentication with his attestation to
the persons who made the declaration
and to the Press Registrar.

10. REGISTRATION
After the publication of the first issue of the News Paper the
Registration of the News Paper may be sought.
The undermentioned documents are required for
Registration.
e)Photocopy of title verification letter issued by RNI.
f)Attested copy of the declaration.
g)First issue indicating Volume.
h)The publication should be brought out within 6 weeks
from the date of authentication of declaration.
i)The imprint line should contain the name of the publisher,
Printer Editor ,owner and the name of the printing press
with complete address.

11. CIRCULATION
• For the release of government
advertisements a newspaper should
have a minimum circulation of 2000
copies.
• The Press Registrar is empowered to
verify the claims made by the
Newspaper in this regard

12. THANK YOU