Press Council of India increases pressure on I&B Ministry to reconstitute CPAC

The Press Council of India on Tuesday passed a resolution urging the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to reconstitute the Central Press Accreditation Committee within a month, a PCI official said.

The meeting of the PCI was called after a joint letter signed by the Council members representing different unions, associations of all categories -- editors, reporters and owners of newspapers -- was submitted to the chairman last month demanding to convene an "extraordinary" meeting on this issue.

A resolution has been passed that the Council desires that the Central Press Accreditation Committee (CPAC) is re-constituted within a month, the official said.

The resolution will now be sent to the I&B Ministry and within a month from there on the CPAC should be reconstituted, the official added.

"Since the last CPAC's term expired a year ago, the same has not been reconstituted despite demand from most of the leading journalist unions and associations," a joint release by journalist unions and associations had said earlier this month.

Many applications for accreditation are pending with the Press Information Bureau (PIB), it had noted.