A day after it was reported that the Andhra Pradesh government had empowered departmental secretaries to take legal action against media outlets and sue them for defamation, if they carried 'baseless' reports with ‘malafide' intention, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) has issued a clarification.

"The state government believes that there is imperative need for the flow of news pertaining to various government departments in an accurate manner without any distortion, slant or prejudice," the statement said.

The state cabinet accepted the proposal presented by the Information & Public Relations (I&PR) Minister Perni Venkatramaiah and planned to cite a Government Order (GO) dated 2007, which empowers the Special Commissioner of the I&PR department to file cases under the law in case of 'baseless' media reports.

"The Commissioner was entitled to follow due process, like issuing a rejoinder, ensuring that the correction is given the same prominence as the wrongly published/televised news was given, including the placement/time slot and has full clarity besides being properly sourced. If all such procedures fail to get the desired response, the Commissioner would move the court and take legal recourse by filing a case as per the applicable sections of law," the CMO said.

"The Cabinet decision that was taken on October 16 was decentralisation of power and delegating the same powers to secretaries of the respective departments instead of being vested solely with the Commissioner of I &PR," it added.

Stating that the process and procedure would remain the same, the state government said that the decision was taken "as Secretaries are better placed in monitoring the news, picking up the distortions, giving rejoinders and taking it to the logical conclusion."

The CMO said that the Cabinet decision was "an extension of the existing practice and has only expanded the scope by roping in the concerned Secretaries instead of the Commissioner of I&PR alone."