MADURAI: Dissatisfied with the state government for failing to furnish details of the officials responsible for the alleged procurement of plagiarised and AI-generated books from Agalvilakku Publications, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the director of public libraries to submit the list of all entities involved and relevant records on November 16 without fail. It also granted four days for the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to register an FIR in the case.
A bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and MD Sumathi opined that it would be ideal if the state published a consolidated and comprehensive list of books procured for public libraries over the last two decades, along with the details of the publications, amounts paid to them, date of settlement of the bills, among others.
Though they did not issue a direction to that effect, they opined that this is the only way for the government to establish transparency and come clean. “If the details demanded above are withheld, the people of Tamil Nadu will draw their own adverse inferences,” they added.
The bench also accepted a request made by the state public prosecutor R John Sathyan seeking four days’ time to register an FIR in the complaint letter sent by the school education department in connection with the issue on November 6.
Sathyan stated that four key witnesses, including professors Perumal Murugan and Parvin Sultana, were examined on November 10 and relevant documents were also being collected.
Dubious books inserted clandestinely into approved list, publisher tells HC
Pursuant to the bench’s order to freeze bank accounts of the publishing companies involved, three bank accounts containing `22.2 lakh have been frozen, he added. The judges directed the DVAC to register FIR before the next hearing on November 16 and submit a copy of the same to the court. They clarified that their direction to register FIR was not contrary to the statute as the government itself has conceded that a crime has been committed.
When the bench posed a pointed question as to who recommended procurement of books from Agalvilakku publications, the director and the additional advocate general explained that the approval for procurement was granted by four committees. It would be disastrous to name any individual without proper inquiry. The judges orally criticised as to why the government could not identify even a single erring official in 24 hours, saying it shows their inefficiency.
They also heard the opinion of Badrinarayanan Seshadri, founder of Kizhakku Pathipagam, who had appeared through video conference.
Badri told the court that the committee members could not have approved such books and that the books must have been clandestinely ‘inserted’ into the list because the entire process took place at the digital level.
Regarding the information furnished by the director that 1,700 books have been procured from Agalvilakku for the Periyar Arivulagam library at a cost of `17 lakh, Badri commented that it was an obscenely high payment for a single publisher and could have been easily spotted by the authorities.
