The Calcutta Telegraph reported yesterday that the "culture ministry has revoked the penalty of an official of the National Library who was caught smuggling out photocopies of rare books and periodicals in December 2005." The employee, Ashok Kumar Nath, an assistant library and information officer, was penalized by having his pay cut, but that sanction was recently and inexplicably revoked by higher-ups within the government.
"It is strange that the ministry wants to revoke the charges against him. This has never happened in the history of the National Library," said R. Ramachandran, the director-in-charge and principal library and information officer. The paper reports "Dark hints are being dropped that Nath has got away because he belongs to the CPM-backed National Library Employees’ Association."
I'm not entirely clear on why the culture ministry would interfere with what seems to be an administrative matter, but it certainly is curious.
