The Department of Higher Education (DHE) has blacklisted eight publishers for their alleged involvement in irregularities in the procurement of books for government college libraries, acting on findings that they had adopted unfair means while supplying books in 2019.
Director General, Higher Education, S Narayanan, has ordered a blanket ban on the purchase of books from the blacklisted publishers. Those barred include Delhi-based Ekant Publications, International Publication Corporation, Vidyanidhi and Green Books; Patna-based Onkar Books; Allahabad-based Basant Publications; and Noida-based Jeevant Prakashan.
The action follows findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which highlighted lapses in the procurement process and alleged collusion between certain publishers and departmental officials that caused financial losses to the state exchequer.
According to the CAG report, presented during the 2023 Budget session, officials of the DHE violated prescribed norms while purchasing books for libraries in 149 government colleges. The report fixed responsibility on the officials concerned for bypassing established procedures.
An official familiar with the matter, requesting anonymity, alleged that some departmental officials had a “cut” in the purchases and also compromised on the discounts normally offered by publishers on bulk orders. In 2019, the DHE had constituted a five-member State-Level Purchase Committee, headed by the Principal of Government College, Panchkula, to centrally procure books for government college libraries. In August that year, the committee selected 252 titles from seven publishers, who allegedly quoted prices significantly higher than the original printed prices.
