Hazaribagh (Jharkhand): The district administration in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh has cracked down on the sale of fake NCERT textbooks and registered FIRs against three bookshops under the Copyright Act, officials said on Sunday.  

The action follows the detection of the sale of counterfeit Class 9 NCERT books in the city.

The shops named in the FIRs are Sangam Book Depot, Gyan Bhandar-1, and Gyan Bhandar-2.

The action has caused a stir among book traders in the city. The district administration said it had been receiving repeated complaints about the sale of fake books being passed off as genuine NCERT publications.

Taking the complaints seriously, the administration launched an investigation. Acting on the directions of Deputy Commissioner Hemant Sati, a district administration team carried out simultaneous raids at all three shops on Friday.

During the inspection, officials closely examined the NCERT books stocked at the outlets.

Several books were found without the official hologram used to authenticate genuine NCERT publications. The quality of paper, printing, and binding was also found to be substandard.

Officials said the preliminary findings strongly suggest that the books were counterfeit.

During questioning, the shop owners claimed that they purchase old NCERT books from students and resell them to others. However, the administration believes the matter goes beyond the resale of used books and could be linked to an organised racket dealing in fake textbooks.

The suspected counterfeit books were seized in the presence of local residents and witnesses. Subsequently, FIRs were registered against the shopkeepers under the Copyright Act, 1957.

The district administration has made it clear that irregularities or fraud in the name of education will not be tolerated. Parents have been advised to purchase books only from authorised and reliable outlets and to report any suspicious activity to the authorities.