The Publishers and Booksellers Guild has got it all wrong, yet again.

Refusing to learn from the see-saw battle of 2007, the guild did not keep a Plan B in place while going full steam ahead for Book Fair 2008 at the Park Circus Maidan.

So, the high court ruling on Monday hit the guild where it hurt most. “The fair, as of now, seems impossible and we have decided to call it off,” said guild secretary Tridib Chatterjee.

A section of publishers blamed the crisis on the guild’s refusal to keep a contingency plan ready despite what had happened last year — a high court order banning the fair on the Maidan had forced the organisers to take the event to the Salt Lake stadium and defer its schedule.

Within hours of Monday’s high court directive, the 12 members of the guild’s executive committee went into a huddle to decide on the next course of action. No consensus emerged.

“Cities like Delhi have a permanent fair site, but we don’t have one. Milon Mela, billed as a permanent fairground, is far from ready. And at 2.5 lakh square feet, it is too small to host a book fair of international standard.... It’s unfortunate the state couldn’t offer us a proper site,” said Chatterjee.

“We are yet to count losses, which must run into crores,” said Sudhangshu Dey, the ground convener of the guild.

Asked why the Guild had not thought of any alternative site, he shot back: “What if another PIL (public interest litigation) comes up there as well?”

Organisers apart, foreign delegates trickling into town were stumped by the court order the day before the scheduled inauguration.

“We were treating the fair as a way to reach out to Bengal, but we respect the court’s decision,” said Hans Danenberg, the ambassador of Dominican Republic, one of the seven envoys from Latin American countries attending the fair.

But unlike the organisers, the foreign participants were quick to draw up alternative plans.

The US consulate general decided to shift its events from the fair ground to the American Center. The British Council, too, spent the day rescheduling its Book Fair events, choosing venues as diverse as Jadavpur University and Bengal Club. The Latin American participants are “contacting chambers of commerce and members of civil society” to make their trip worthwhile.