What is the full form of PCI

PCI: Press Council of India

PCI stands for Press Council of India. It is a statutory autonomous, quasi-judicial body constituted on 4 July 1966 under the Indian Press Council Act, 1965. It was established on the proposal of First Press Commission (1954) to govern the conduct of print media.

In 1975, during the emergency in India, the 1965 Act was repealed, and the PCI was abolished. In 1978, a new act was enacted, and the PCI was re-established under this act in 1979. Today, the Press Council of India works under the Press Council Act 1978.

Key Objectives:

• To preserve the freedom of the Press
• To maintain and improve the standards of newspapers and news agencies of the Press

Key Functions of PCI:

• To hear and adjudicate complaints against the press for violating the ethics
• To settle complaints by the press for violation of freedom of the press
• To generate funds by levying a fee on registered newspapers based on their widespread circulation. It does not levy fee on newspapers with circulation less than 5000 copies.
• To provide provision for lodging complaints against a newspaper. If any individual finds something objectionable, he or she can approach the editor or any other concerned person of the publication. And, if the complaint is not resolved, he or she may approach the Press Council of India.

The council consists of a chairman and 28 other members. The chairman has always been a senior retired judge of Supreme Court of India. The chairpersons of the council from 1966-till date are given below;

• Justice JR Mudholkar (1966-1968)
• Justice N Rajagopala Ayyangar (1968-1975)
• Justice AN Grover (1979-1985)
• Justice AN Sen (1985-1989)
• Justice RS Sarkaria (1989-1995)
• Justice PB Sawant (1995-2001)
• Justice K Jayachandra Reddy (2001-2005)
• Justice G.N. Ray (2005-2011)
• Justice Markandey Katju (2011-2014)
• Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad (2014-till date)