India's Press Council operates without journalist members

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 8 October 2026 |  JP Asia Desk

India's Press Council is functioning with only 14 of its 28 statutory members, leaving all newspaper editor and working journalist seats vacant because the government has not published 13 nominees in the Official Gazette. The ministry says approvals are in the final stage but gave no timeline.

Summary

UPDATE (October 8, 2026): After this story was published, India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry formally notified the appointment of six editors and seven other working journalists to the Press Council of India through a Gazette notification dated October 7. The appointments fill all 13 journalist seats discussed in this report, raising the council’s appointed membership to 27 of 28 and leaving only the news-agency representative’s seat vacant.

NEW DELHI — The Press Council of India is functioning with only 14 of its 28 statutory members, leaving every seat reserved for newspaper editors and working journalists vacant as the government delays formally notifying 13 nominees. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting says the appointments are in their final approval stage but has given no date for completing the process.

The 15th Press Council has remained incomplete since the previous council's term ended in October 2024. Its present membership comprises five members of Parliament, three representatives from education, law, literature and culture, and six members drawn from newspaper ownership and management. Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, a retired Supreme Court judge, was reappointed chairperson in April after the position had remained vacant for nearly four months.

Journalist nominees await gazette notification

The council nominated six newspaper editors in December 2025 and six working journalists other than editors in May 2026. A seventh working-journalist nominee was selected in July, completing the 13 nominations required for these two categories.

Council records show that it wrote to the ministry on May 25, July 2 and September 9 seeking publication of the nominees' names in the Official Gazette. Under Section 5(5) of the Press Council Act, a nomination takes effect only after the central government publishes it. The ministry told The Indian Express that the notification was expected shortly after the remaining formalities were completed, but it did not provide a deadline.

Council can meet, but representation remains incomplete

The Press Council Act provides for a chairperson and 28 members. Besides the 13 seats for editors and other working journalists, the council includes six representatives of newspaper owners or management, one news-agency representative, five members of Parliament and three people with expertise in education and science, law, and literature and culture. The news-agency seat also remains outside the current group of 14 appointed members.

The council is an autonomous, quasi-judicial body charged with preserving press freedom and maintaining professional standards in newspapers and news agencies. Although the vacancies do not automatically prevent it from conducting business, the absence of all members selected specifically to represent editors and working journalists leaves the profession without its full statutory voice in the watchdog's deliberations.

A government response to Parliament in March said the council's quorum is 11 members. It also reported that 1,077 complaints had been pending for more than one year as of January 2026, including 313 unresolved for over five years. The response did not establish how far the vacancies had contributed to that backlog.

The confirmed delay raises questions about the council's representative character, but no publicly available evidence establishes that the government's inaction is intended to interfere with the body. Until the Gazette notification is issued, the 13 journalist nominees cannot formally take their seats, regardless of the council having completed their selection.

ATTRIBUTION: Based on reporting by The Indian Express published on October 7, 2026, supported by Press Council of India records and a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting response to Parliament dated March 27, 2026.

PHOTO: AI-generated; for illustrative purposes only.