New Delhi Feb 20 PTI The Editors Guild of India on Sunday raised objections to the new accreditation guidelines issued by the Press Information Bureau PIB saying vague arbitrary and draconian clauses have been included in it with an intent to restrict any critical and investigative reporting of government affairs It demanded that the new accreditation guidelines be withdrawn and urged the PIB to undertake a meaningful consultation with all the stakeholders to come up with revised guidelines The Editors Guild of India is deeply concerned about the newly released Central Media Accreditation Guidelines issued by the Press Information Bureau of India which lays down the rules for giving accreditation to journalists for accessing and reporting from the headquarters of Government of India it said in a statement It noted that the new guidelines contain various new provisions under which accreditation of a journalist can be revoked many of which are arbitrary and without any due process of law For instance accreditation can be revoked if a journalist is charged with a serious cognizable offence or if a journalist acts in a manner which is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India the security of State friendly relations with foreign states public order decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court defamation or incitement to an offence the Guild noted It is bizarre that merely being charged has been mentioned as a ground for cancellation it said The other grounds for cancellation are manifestly vague and subjective especially since no procedures have been set out and there is no mention of the adjudicating authority that will decide on suspension it pointed out Worse still concerned journalists have not been given an opportunity to be heard it said adding Most surprisingly defamation has been included as a ground for cancellation The Guild said that a new clause requiring police verification has been added without defining the contours of such verification Since no standards have been prescribed it can grant unfettered powers to the police for denying accreditation to journalists who may be seen as critical of the government it said It is clear that these vague arbitrary and draconian clauses have been included with an intent to restrict any critical and investigative reporting of government affairs it added There are other provisions as well that are restrictive it said In the case of freelance journalists the requirements pertaining to the number of by-lines have been made unreasonably high it said Furthermore these guidelines have been introduced without any prior consultation with journalists bodies media organisations or any other relevant stakeholders The Guild therefore demands a withdrawal of these guidelines and urges the PIB to undertake meaningful consultation with all the stakeholders if it is intent on revising them the EGI said The Guild has written a letter to the PIB elaborating on all these issues it added PTI PK SMN SMN