At a time when the royal administration is facing wrath from the national and international media organisations for its repeated attempts to gag the independent media, His Majesty King Gyanendra on Sunday promulgated an ‘ordinance to amend some laws related to media’.

The Council of Ministers, which is chaired by the King himself, had recommended for the ordinance, with some drastic measures to control the media, five months ago.

The ordinance to amend Press and Publication Act (2048 B.S), Radio Act (2014), National Broadcasting Act (2048) and Defamation Act (2016 B.S) has incorporated tighter provisions concerning the publication and broadcast materials, ownership and penalty for defamation.

The promulgation of the ordinance had been delayed owing to protests from media rights groups led by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), news reports quoting government sources said on Monday.

In the new laws the authorities have been authorised to slap heavy amount of fine to publishers and editors if the published materials are found to be “helpful to terrorists”. The ordinance has also incorporated stricter provisions regarding publication or broadcasting of materials likely to create communal or religious disharmony.

According to The Kathmandu Post, there are provisions in the new ordinance to increase the penalty to editors and publishers – for publishing defamatory items – up to Rs.100,000 from Rs.10,000 while anyone publishing, translating or importing banned items will be subjected to a penalty of Rs.500,000.

Meanwhile, reports quoting FNJ officials said that fresh protest programs would be launched against the new laws after studying them in detail.