The district administration in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, has taken action against the sale of counterfeit NCERT textbooks by filing FIRs against three bookshops under the Copyright Act. This move comes after the discovery of fake Class 9 NCERT books being sold in the city.
The bookstores implicated in the FIRs include Sangam Book Depot, Gyan Bhandar-1, and Gyan Bhandar-2. This enforcement action has stirred concerns among book vendors in the area, with repeated complaints received by the administration regarding the circulation of fake books masquerading as authentic NCERT publications.
Responding to the complaints, the administration initiated an investigation and conducted simultaneous raids at the three shops based on Deputy Commissioner Hemant Sati’s directives. During the inspections, officials scrutinized the NCERT books on the shelves, noting the absence of the official hologram used to verify genuine NCERT publications and substandard paper quality, printing, and binding.
Preliminary findings indicate a high likelihood of the books being counterfeit. While the shop owners claimed to acquire old NCERT books from students for resale, the administration suspects a larger organized operation involved in producing fake textbooks beyond the mere resale of used materials. The suspected counterfeit books were confiscated in the presence of witnesses, and FIRs were lodged against the shopkeepers under the Copyright Act, 1957.
The district administration emphasized a zero-tolerance policy towards educational fraud or irregularities. Parents are urged to procure books exclusively from authorized and trustworthy sources, reporting any dubious activities to the authorities promptly.
