Ranchi, Dec. 24: Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) members are busy these days looking for clues to crack the alleged forged book puzzle.
Recently, it came to the panel’s notice that several counterfeit copies of JAC’s Class XII book on model questions were in circulation with original JAC holograms. Some JAC members held the authorised publishers are responsible for the alleged racket.
However, the authorised publishers of the book Model questions and answers for Class XII themselves informed the academic body that controls matriculation and intermediate examinations in the state about the racket.
“The counterfeit books contain the same model question and answers but the quality of ink and print differs. We have informed the Jamshedpur police to inquire into the matter as the scandal has started from the steel city,” JAC chairman Shaligram Prasad Yadav told The Telegraph.
Sources in the academic body anticipate the involvement of the authorised publishing agency in the scandal.
“The company in question had told us that they print only 90,000 books in a series whereas the requirement is of around 2 lakh copies,” said a JAC source adding that it was the publishers that told them about the counterfeit books.
All the original JAC books come with a hologram. But sources said that the academic body does not issue the hologram and has passed on the responsibility to the publishers.
Besides, experts questioned the rationale of printing only 90,000 books on model questions and answers against the possible demand of 2 lakh. Around 2.50 lakh intermediate students appear for the examination across the state.
Sources believe that some of the JAC officials and publishers are part of an unholy nexus to reap monetary benefits.
In an apparent bid to prevent further sale of the alleged counterfeit books, JAC issued a notification today warning such publishers not to indulge in the illegal act that might put them behind bars.
Students have been notified to get their copies of Model questions and answers for Class XII stamped by the shopkeeper after purchase.
The books published by JAC hogged the limelight in the past as they contained several mistakes.
