NEW DELHI: The board of the National Book Trust has rejected a government proposal to amend the Trust’s Memorandum of Association to contain the powers of the chairperson, forcing an embarrassed HRD ministry on the back foot.In the meeting held on October 5, 12 of the 15 members -- present in the deliberations -- of the 18-member board of trustees at the NBT rejected the amendments mooted by the ministry, asserting that the “changes will effectively curtail the wings of the chairperson and change the very nature of the trust”.The Prakash Javadekar-led Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry is now set to call a meeting of all the 18 board members to explain the ‘intent’ behind the proposed amendment and assure the board that the government does not intend to interfere in its functioning.Taken aback at the board’s majority vote rejecting its proposal, the ministry is seeking to reassure all the members that it is only seeking to restore balance in the board and correct some parts of the MoA which have upset the division of work in the organisation. ET has learnt that minister Javadekar is likely to preside over the meeting which will soon be scheduled.Former Panchjanya editor and key RSS member Baldeo Sharma is chairperson of NBT while the Trust has Rita Chaudhary as its director. Chowdhary, a Sahitya Akademi Award winner and a professor of political science, is also the wife of former president of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)’s Chandra Mohan Patowary who joined BJP in 2014. Both were appointed to NBT in 2015 when Smriti Irani headed HRD.In a communication dated September 10, 2018, the ministry had proposed deletion of clauses 48, 50, 51(a) of the NBT MoA which place the chairperson a step above the director. The amendments, as per the ministry, aim at making clear that the director alone is the executive head of the institute and the chairperson cannot take over these powers.The ministry is attempting a similar MoA amendment at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies as well.At least five members of the board of Trustees that ET reached out to, said that the position of the Board stays unchanged.Writer and novelist Neerja Madhav had said in the meeting that the changes will destroy the nature of NBT and reduce it to "another government department”."The reason NBT is a trust, not a society or a corporation is because it has the responsibility of shaping the nation's intellect. The chairman is the centre of its functioning. That should not be changed. This is what I had conveyed to the board," Madhav told ET.Vishwanath Tiwari, former president Sahitya Akademi had said it was also about the "dignity of the NBT" that for years has operated as an autonomous body, and any undermining of the power of the chairman, an honorary position will lead to the organisation losing its sheen.Two other members of the board, writers Suresh Chand and Nanda Kumar E.N had taken offence to the "urgency with which the HRD ministry was pushing the amendments and had questioned the need for them 'when everything was going on smoothly at the organisation.'"It was then pointed out that in 2003-2004 too, a similar proposal was sent to the board of trustees but it was rejected by them.Trustee members also said the meeting had turned out to be quite stormy with heated arguments between the members and the director. Publisher Prabhat Kumar had questioned why the "meeting was being video recorded, a practice seldom implemented, and only with permission."The board of trustees have also sent a letter to the chairman complaining about how many of them were "humiliated and bullied" during the meeting.NBT chairman Baldev Sharma, a key RSS member declined to comment on the issue.