Chennai: DVAC officials on Tuesday launched a detailed inquiry into the alleged scam of procuring books for Tamil Nadu government libraries and inspected the official records at the Anna Centenary Library here and Periyar Arivulagam in Coimbatore.
The action follows a complaint filed by the School Education Department with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). Initial verification by the state government indicated that multiple suspicious publishing firms were operating out of a single address.
On Monday, School Education Minister A Rajmohan claimed that the library book procurement process was heavily manipulated during the previous DMK regime to benefit unknown entities, bypassing established and reputed publishers.
He alleged that a syndicate, in collusion with officials and political figures, systematically procured these low-quality "trash" books to siphon funds and noted that established, reputable publishers were ignored in favour of unknown entities like ‘Agal Vilakku Pathippagam.’
The publisher came under scrutiny last week after writer Perumal Murugan flagged irregularities regarding nearly 1,800 of its books stocked at the newly inaugurated Rs 300 crore Periyar Arivulagam library in Coimbatore. On Saturday, the Agal Vilakku Pathippagam books were removed from the library shelves.
The library book procurement ‘scam’ has triggered a fierce political row, with the ruling TVK blaming the previous DMK government for approving the bulk purchase orders, while the opposition DMK has demanded an impartial probe to pinpoint which specific officials greenlit the fraudulent procurement.
All identified AI-generated books were being removed from libraries across the state, the minister told reporters.
The authorities have sealed approximately 3,000 books in Coimbatore and identified 523 problematic books in the historic Connemara Public Library.
Rajmohan highlighted specific examples of suspicious books, noting generic author bios, missing bibliographic information, and clear evidence of machine-made text and errors.
According to sources, the DVAC would fix responsibility on the persons involved in the scam, following the detailed enquiry.
The DVAC team under Deputy Superintendent of Police Kandasamy inspected the documents pertaining to the procurement of books during the previous DMK regime at the Anna Centenary Library in Kotturpuram.
A similar examination of official records was carried out by a separate team at the Periyar Arivulagam.
