The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has quietly done away with a system instituted to plug corruption in the National Book Trust’s warehouse operations, which was put in place by noted historian Bipan Chandra when he was the Trust’s chairman, and executed by his successor, the veteran Malayalam writer, A Sethumadhavan.

The reinstatement of the old system of warehouse management at the National Book Trust has been effected without addressing allegations that the old system of managing warehouse stock was open to financial irregularities, which is the reason why the National Book Trust shifted to a new system between 2011 and 2013.

Apart from reviving the possibilities of financial irregularities, the ministry’s decision is also seen as a blow to the autonomous status of the National Book Trust as it has been taken at a time when the Board of Trustees, the supreme decision-making body of the National Book Trust, does not exist.

Audit warning

The National Book Trust was established in 1957 with the aim to promote a culture of reading in society by publishing and encouraging quality literature at affordable prices in English, Hindi and other Indian languages.

So far, it has been an autonomous body of the HRD ministry, and all its policy decisions – including the decision to change the management of its stock of books – are taken by a Board of Trustees.

According to the agenda paper of a Board of Trustees meeting held on February 28, 2012, the board recognised the need to change the traditional warehouse management of the National Book Trust when a transaction audit for the period 2009-2011 “pointed out that no proper physical verification of stocks in the Central Sales Store [Warehouse] was done by the Trust”.

It added: “The audit also pointed out that proper reconciliation of the stocks was also not done by the Trust.”

A senior HRD ministry official said that Bipan Chandra, who was the National Book Trust chairman then, initiated the move to plug what seemed to be a perennial source of financial irregularities in the Trust. The new system was implemented by Sethumadhavan, who succeeded him in 2012.

“The Board of Trustees decided to avail of the services of a professional warehousing agency through the tendering process to counter the problem of financial irregularities,” said the ministry official. “Accordingly, an open tender was floated and the contract was awarded for three years to a professional company, which started functioning from April 1, 2013.”

Simultaneously, an enquiry was also initiated to identify the problem areas that had led to financial irregularities in the body’s warehouse management as pointed out by the audit report in 2011.

Unilateral order

Early this year, however, the HRD Ministry, headed by Smriti Irani, without waiting for the reconstitution of the Board of Trustees or completion of the enquiry, directed the National Book Trust to revert to the old system of warehouse management. In a letter dated March 30, 2016, the ministry asked the National Book Trust that “there is no need for fresh tendering for the management and operation of warehousing system”.

The letter, which was sent to the director of the National Book Trust, said:

“Accordingly, the Competent Authority is of the view that the contract of management of warehousing system with Globus Logisys Pvt. Ltd. [the professional company hired for the purpose] may not be extended by NBT beyond 31.03.2016. For managing the same in-house, NBT may ensure the adequate safeguard and monitoring mechanism.”

In its hurry to revert to the old system, the ministry ignored not only the Board of Trustees but also the National Book Trust chairman, Baldev Sharma.

Chairman not in the loop

According to the HRD ministry official, Sharma had suggested that no decision should be taken on the subject until the reconstitution of the Board of Trustees. “Sharma was, therefore, kept out of the loop, and National Book Trust director Rita Chowdhury carried out the instructions of the ministry,” said the official.

Indeed, referring to the HRD ministry’s instructions, it was Chowdhury who issued the order that the National Book Trust would revert to the old system of warehousing operations. Chowdhury’s order, dated March 31, said that the contract of the professional company hired for the purpose would be terminated.

The order said: “Accordingly, the agency is being informed about the termination of the contract w.e.f. 1 April 2016.”

Talking to Scroll.in, the National Book Trust director defended the decision to revert to the old system. “It was the HRD ministry's decision and was based on the recommendation by a group of experts,” said Chowdhury. She also denied that this amounted to compromising the autonomy of the National Book Trust.

As for ignoring the Board of Trustees, Chowdhury said: "We followed correct procedure. We did not require the approval of the BOT [Board of Trustees] for restoring the old practice.”

Chowdhury, the wife of Assam BJP leader Chandra Mohan Patowary and a professor of political science at Guwahati’s Cotton College, was made director of the National Book Trust in July last year – nearly four months after the government appointed as its chairman Baldev Sharma, the former editor of RSS organ Panchjanya.