Higher Secondary council's proposal on book dispute

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Higher Secondary Council (WBHSC) submitted suggestions in a sealed cover before Calcutta high court on Wednesday on ways to give students a reprieve from the uncertainty over publication of eight higher secondary textbooks. The single bench of Justice SanjibBanerjee directed Lakshmi Gupta, counsel for WBHSC, to serve copies of the suggestion to the petitioner, PunaschaPrakashani and other litigants in the case.
Punascha Prakashani had filed the petition challenging the publication of eight higher secondary textbooks by Hyderabad-based publisher Orient Blackswan Private Limited (OBPL) - whose bid was selected after processing the tender. The petition had alleged irregularities in processing the tender.
Sources said the council suggested maintaining status quo for the academic year 2013-14 for the sake of students by allowing OBPL to publish all eight textbooks for one year. Thereafter, the council has suggested awarding publication of six of the eight textbooks to Punascha Prakashani for two years - academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16.
The decision to award the petitioner was taken as Punascha Prakashani was deprived publication rights this year. Publication of the remaining two textbooks would be awarded to someone among the other publishers who submitted bids in response to the tender. Sources added that the council has made it clear at the outset that though the tender was floated for three years, the work order was issued only for academic year 2013-14.
After WBHSC's counsel submitted the sealed cover in court, Punoscha Prakashani's counsel, Shaktinath Mukherjee and Saptangshu Basu as well as council for Book Syndicate, another bidder to the tender, requested copies of the council's suggestions.
Justice Banerjee then said he would hear the petitioner and other litigants' response to the council's suggestion on Thursday. and directed the WBHSC counsel to serve them copies of contents of the sealed cover.