Mohali October 1:
The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) authorities are beating about the bush while probing grave anomalies in the publication of textbooks of 48 different subjects running into lakhs of copies.
Rather than probing the role of the officials of the publication branch who released the printing papers worth Rs 6 crore to 26 publishers without taking the required security amount of Rs 1.5 crore and without issuing the assignment letters, the authorities have deputed District and Sessions Judge OP Garg (retd) to probe the delay in printing of the textbooks.
In the official orders issued by the vice-chairman on behalf of the chairman of the PSEB, it has been mentioned that despite the completion of formalities regarding the publication of the textbooks on time, the work on printing of the books has been delayed. However, an inquiry had been marked to probe the role of the officials who deliberately delayed the printing of the textbooks.
“Instead of probing serious irregularities for which senior board officials could have landed in serious trouble, the authorities have skillfully diverted the focus of the investigation,” a board official said. The valuable printing papers were released to the publishers without taking the required security amount of Rs 1.5 crore. Instead, an amount of Rs 70 lakh was taken from them. The publishers started publishing the books without getting assignment letter from the board, indicating connivance of certain board officials. The textbooks are being published for the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Authority and the Punjab Welfare Department.
The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) authorities are beating about the bush while probing grave anomalies in the publication of textbooks of 48 different subjects running into lakhs of copies.
Rather than probing the role of the officials of the publication branch who released the printing papers worth Rs 6 crore to 26 publishers without taking the required security amount of Rs 1.5 crore and without issuing the assignment letters, the authorities have deputed District and Sessions Judge OP Garg (retd) to probe the delay in printing of the textbooks.
In the official orders issued by the vice-chairman on behalf of the chairman of the PSEB, it has been mentioned that despite the completion of formalities regarding the publication of the textbooks on time, the work on printing of the books has been delayed. However, an inquiry had been marked to probe the role of the officials who deliberately delayed the printing of the textbooks.
“Instead of probing serious irregularities for which senior board officials could have landed in serious trouble, the authorities have skillfully diverted the focus of the investigation,” a board official said. The valuable printing papers were released to the publishers without taking the required security amount of Rs 1.5 crore. Instead, an amount of Rs 70 lakh was taken from them. The publishers started publishing the books without getting assignment letter from the board, indicating connivance of certain board officials. The textbooks are being published for the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Authority and the Punjab Welfare Department.
