MUMBAI: English daily Hindustan Times has been cleared of charges of ?paid news? after an inquiry by a committee of the Press Council of India (PCI) found them to be baseless.

The committee accordingly has recommended to the full council that the matter be closed. The recommendations of the committee are generally accepted by the full council.

Earlier in January, it was reported that the PCI had decided to ?censure? HT along with some other papers for having carried news reports in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly elections of 2010 that were allegedly self-promotion material provided by the candidates in fray.
 
On 2 February, Hindustan Times editor-in-chief Sanjoy Narayan wrote that none of the four pieces ?in question? carried a politician?s quote, and reflected the voices of ?villages and farmers?. The paper, he had said, had done its ?checks? and would go back to ?the authority?.

The PCI committee also went through the clippings, which had been alleged to be paid news and found they were factual in nature or balanced. In fact, one story was about chopper trouble.