Jammu, Jul 4: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday suspended eight officials of the School Education Department over the procurement and approval of two books containing “highly inappropriate” and “separatism-related” content for government school libraries.
In an order, the School Education Department said the action was taken after it found serious negligence and lack of due diligence in the selection and recommendation of the books, which were recently withdrawn from schools across the Union Territory.
The order said the books — Personalities and Legends of J&K by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena, published by Oberoi Book Service, Jammu, and Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir by Sushant Giri, published by Anurag Prakashan, Delhi — were selected under the Samagra Shiksha library scheme.
According to the government, 123 copies of Personalities and Legends of J&K were supplied to schools in Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur districts, while 128 copies of Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir were distributed in Jammu and Baramulla districts before both books were withdrawn.
The department said the books contained content related to separatism with the potential to create law and order issues and held members of the Series-4 expert sub-committee and supervisory officers responsible for the lapses.
The suspended officials are Coordinator Library Fazil Imran Saddiqui, Assistant Coordinator Gurjeet Singh, GHSS Kore Pannu Principal Sanjeev Sharma, SCERT Jammu Academic Officer Shazia Kouser, Lecturer Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir, Lecturer Niranjan Sharma, Lecturer Renu Mengi and Lecturer Rajmohini.
The government also disengaged contractual Computer Assistant Sheikh Suheel Ahmad, who was assisting the Coordinator Library, with immediate effect.
It appointed Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Power Development Department, Ashwani Kumar, as the inquiry officer to investigate the matter, while Additional Secretary, General Administration Department, Rohit Sharma, will serve as the presenting officer. The inquiry officer has been directed to submit the report within 30 days.
The order further said the authors and publishers of the two books have been banned and blacklisted in the Union Territory, and directed that all printed material authored or published by them be withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir.(KNS).
