AdvertismentThe order has been issued by the orders of the J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
As per the order, a high level probe has been ordered into the matter as well.
The officials suspended include Coordinator Library, Samagra Shiksha Fazil Imran Saddiqui, Assistant Coordinator Gurjeet Singh, Principal Sanjeev Sharma, Academic Officer Shazia Kouser, Lecturers Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir, Niranjan Sharma, Renu Mengi and Rajmohini.
"During the suspension period, all of them will remain attached to the Administrative Department of the School Education Department," the order reads.
AdvertismentThe government also ordered the immediate disengagement of Sheikh Suheel Ahmad, a contractual Computer Assistant assisting the Coordinator Library in Samagra Shiksha.
Srinagar, Jul 4: The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Saturday suspended eight officials of the School Education Department (SED) over the approval and procurement of a controversial library book titled 'Personalities and Legends of J&K' series - 4, that allegedly contained content glorifying separatism.
Advertisment
The order has been issued by the orders of the J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
As per the order, a high level probe has been ordered into the matter as well.
The action comes hours after the SED withdrew the two books following widespread backlash from the BJP and other quarters over the inclusion of the book in government school libraries under the Samagra Shiksha programme.
As per the government Order No. 257-JK(Edu) of 2026, the government observed that there was "serious negligence, dereliction of duty and lack of proper due diligence" on the part of members of the Series-4 Sub-Committee and supervisory officers who recommended the books despite their "highly inappropriate content" related to separatism, "which had the potential to create law and order issues."
Advertisment
The SED order reads that Samagra Shiksha had received a library grant for procurement of age-appropriate books for 18,328 government schools and 394 PM SHRI schools, following which an Expression of Interest (EOI) was floated.
"Four expert sub-committees comprising academicians from Jammu and Kashmir divisions were constituted to evaluate and recommend books for different school levels," it reads.
It reads that the committees selected 463 books submitted by 364 publishers.
Advertisment
"However, two books were found to contain objectionable material and were withdrawn by the department on July 3," the order reads.
The books are titled as "Personalities and Legends of J&K," authored by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena and published by Oberoi Book Service, Jammu, and "Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir" authored by Dr. Sushant Giri and published by Anurag Prakashan, Delhi.
As per the order, 123 copies of the first book were supplied to schools in Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur districts, while 128 copies of the second book were distributed in Jammu and Baramulla districts before they were withdrawn.
In wake of this, the government placed eight officials under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 31(1)(a) of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956.
The officials suspended include Coordinator Library, Samagra Shiksha Fazil Imran Saddiqui, Assistant Coordinator Gurjeet Singh, Principal Sanjeev Sharma, Academic Officer Shazia Kouser, Lecturers Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir, Niranjan Sharma, Renu Mengi and Rajmohini.
"During the suspension period, all of them will remain attached to the Administrative Department of the School Education Department," the order reads.
Advertisment
The government also ordered the immediate disengagement of Sheikh Suheel Ahmad, a contractual Computer Assistant assisting the Coordinator Library in Samagra Shiksha.
Also, the government appointed Additional Chief Secretary, Power Development Department Ashwani Kumar as the inquiry officer while the Additional Secretary in the General Administration Department,
Rohit Sharma has been appointed as the Presenting Officer.
The inquiry officer has been directed to submit his report to the competent authority within 30 days
As per the order, the government also ordered that the authors and publishers of the two books be banned and blacklisted in J&K UT.
"Any printed material authored or published by them should be withdrawn from the UT," the order reads.
