Courtesy: Tribune News Service, By V.P. Prabhakar CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Governor, MrDhanik Lal Mandal, who is Chancellor of Kuruksheka University, has been urged to order an enquiry into the over 30,000 books missing from the university library and to fix the responsibility, for the losses, It is being alleged that the stock verification report of the university library highlighting the loss of 31,887 books is being scuttled and hence a memorandum has been sent to the Governor by Prof. J.K. Khanna, Convener of the Stock Verification Committee, Department of Library and Information Science Kurukshetra University.
This was the first ever stocktaking exercise done under the orders of the then Vice-chancellor when a three member Stock Verification Committee was constituted on August 31,, 1990. The members of the committee were the Chairman of the Department of Library and Information Science (convener), the senior most Deputy Librarian of the university library and the senior most Assistant Librarian of the library Prof Khanna has pointed out that the committee started work of stock verification on September 17, 1990 with the help of 13 teams, with each team consisting of three persons. Each team was headed by an Assistant Librarian or at least a semiprofessional haying experience of working in the library. The physical verification of books lying in the main university library and departmental libraries was done by November 10, 1990. Five teams headed by the university Assistant Librarian further worked for more than two months to record the titles of missing issues of the periodicals, The Committee took two years to complete the work and submit its report to the then Vice-chancellor, Lt Gen R. Balram. The untraced books numbered 31,887 and the estimated cost at the old prices was Rs 26,48,000. It does not include the prices of the lost issues of journals. The then Vice-chancellor accepted the report with the following observations: “Notwithstanding the actual fact that these two persons (the senior most Deputy Librarian and the senior most Assistant Librarian both members of the Stock Verification Committee) not only did not cooperate with Dr J.K. Khanna (convener) hut were obstructive in their attitude, the losses recorded by Dr JK. Khanna shall be treated as correct with a likely error of five per thousand,…” He further remarked: “These losses may please be processed for write off”. Before talking any action on the report, the then Vice-chancellor left the university and Dr. Arya TOOK Over. He too accepted the report of the convener but he also left on June 21, 1993. Dr Khanna, in his memorandum to the Chancellor, has further said that soon after the new incumbent came on the scene, the vested interests started a campaign to undo the work of the committee. Then a Statement was issued that only 12,000 books were lost without identifying the titles and cost of the lost books, After two years of the acceptance of the report by two Vice-chancellors, another committee was appointed which attested the loss of 12,000 books! Dr Khanna said that curiously enough, this committee reached. this decision in just one sitting without touching the books on the Shelves of the library much less counting them. Not only that, the committee also resolved all the complex problems faced by the library as well. He said that this Spoke volumes on the authenticity of the findings.
Prof Khanna has said that he feels morally obliged to bring the whole matter before the Chancellor to order an inquiry into the whole affair.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 28, 1994
