Andhra govt defends move to empower secretaries to sue media outlets

Previously, the AP government had empowered departmental secretaries to take legal action against media outlets and sue them for defamation.
"The state government believes that there is an imperative need for the flow of news 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 to file cases under the law in case of 'baseless' media reports.
"The Cabinet decision that was taken on October 16 was decentralisation of power and delegating the same powers to secretaries" it added.
The CMO said that the Cabinet decision was "an extension of the existing practice by roping in the concerned Secretaries instead of the Commissioner of I&PR alone."

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