Stung by the fact that a Hyderabad-based company, Midram Publications, has been publishing an India-registered newspaper called The International Herald Tribune (IHT) for the last 10-odd days in, what has been termed as, "total violation of the law," the I&B ministry is writing to the IHT management urging them not to extend any sort of support to Midram, including content and the masthead of IHT.

Pointing out that the government has been taken by surprise at the printing and publication of IHT from Hyderabad, a senior I&B ministry official today said, "It's in total violation of all existing guidelines (relating to foreign investment in print medium and publication of foreign newspapers and journals in India)."

The government wants to address the IHT issue at the earliest as it feels that such "blatant" violation of Indian laws may encourage others in the other sectors in the media to follow suit too.

Apart from writing to IHT, the government is also making its legal position clear to T Venkat Ram Reddy, who prints and publishes IHT in Hyderabad on behalf of Midram Publications. Incidentally, the editor of the Hyderabad-printed IHT, MJ Akbar, is a former Congress Member of Parliament and the Congress now leads the coalition United Progressive Alliance government in Delhi.

Efforts made by indiantelevision.com today to elicit a response from Akbar proved futile.

It may be a coincidence that the Akbar-edited and partly owned Asian Age has obtained a stay from a Mumbai court after the previous government had issued it notices on breaching media guidelines by publishing supplements with full content from New York Times, which owns the IHT.

Asked whether the government would ask Midram Publications and IHT to suspend publication of the newspaper from India, the government official said, "We are making our legal position clear to them. They should not take our politeness for weakness. After all, initial studying of the matter shows that all laws have been broken, including (content) syndication guidelines."

All registered Indian publications are authorised to make syndication arrangements for procuring material, including photographs, cartoons, crossword puzzles, articles and features from foreign publications (content provider) under an automatic approval route provided the total material procured and actually printed in an issue of the Indian publication does not exceed 7.5 per cent of the total printed area of that issue.

The syndicated material should not include full copy of the editorial page or the front page of the foreign publication and the masthead of the content provider publication is not to be utilised in the Indian publication.

If IHT, published from Hyderabad, is judged on these accounts, then it "contravenes even the syndication norms," the government official said, pointing out that foreign investment norms do not allow actual publication of foreign newspapers in India.

International Herald Tribune, printed at the Reddy-owned Deccan Chronicle press in Hyderabad, is priced at Rs 30. This India-registered newspaper has been sourcing articles from various places, including news agencies and the International Herald Tribune.

According to published media reports, Midram Publications Ltd. registered the title "International Herald Tribune" with the Registrar of Newspapers of India. To avoid any row over trademark in the future, it has got a no-objection certificate from the foreign newspaper, which has been filed with the local authorities. Readers can subscribe to the paper by calling a Hyderabad number (27803930), which also happens to be the Deccan Chronicle's phone number.

The government official also said that an internal inquiry would be made into as to how RNI, an organisation under the I&B ministry, allowed registration of a brand name like IHT, which is well known.