States » SouthPosted at: Nov 15 2026 4:46PM


Book procurement scam for TN govt libraries: 5 officials suspended

Chennai, Nov 15 (UNI) Days after a popular writer exposed the scam in procurement of books for Tamil Nadu government libraries from fake publications and the Madras High Court taking a serious view and ordering the DVAC to file an FIR, five senior officials of the Public Libraries department were placed under suspension on Sunday.
The suspended officials were S Kamatchi, Chief Librarian and Information Officer (in-charge) and Deputy Chief Librarian, Anna Centenary Library (ACL), Chennai; Dinesh Kumar, Chief Librarian and Information Officer (in-charge), Kalaignar Centenary Library, Madurai; V Santhanakrishnan, Librarian and Information Officer, Kalaignar Centenary Library and in-charge of Periyar Library; S Santhana Karthikeyan, Librarian and Information Officer, ACL; and J Juliet, Chief Accounts Officer, Directorate of Public Libraries.
The suspension orders were issued by School Education Minister A.Rajmohan after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, taking a serious view, ordered disciplinary action against the officials involved in the book procurement scam. A Division Bench of Justices G.R.Swaminathan and Ms.M.D.Sumathi had on November 10 directed the government to initiate disciplinary proceedings, including suspension of officials involved. The court also directed the DVAC to register an FIR and freeze the bank accounts of Agal Vilakku Publications, its proprietor and others involved.
A few days back Akademi award winning writer Perumal Murugan exposed the corruption in the purchase of junk books by ghost writers and fake publications at exorbitant prices for the iconic state-of-the-art library, Periyar Arivulagam (Periyar Knowledge World) in Coimbatore, which led to expose of similar scam in some other state-run libraries. As the scam gained created a storm both in political and literary world, thousands of fake books were taken off the shelves from several libraries
The action by the State government, comes amid a DVAC probe into allegations of large-scale financial irregularities, including the purchase of AI-generated publications, plagiarised works and books carrying fictitious authors’ names and questionable ISBNs.
The DVAC is examining procurement records, financial transactions and the role of officials and publishers in the alleged irregularities. The High Court is also monitoring the investigation and has sought details of those responsible for having issued the orders for procurement of fake books.
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