CHENNAI: DMK‘s legal wing has moved the Madras high court seeking direction to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to register a case and investigate the suspected irregularities in the procurement of books for the Periyar Knowledge Centre in Coimbatore.The plea, moved by DMK legal wing joint secretary E Parandhaman, is likely to be taken up for hearing in a couple of days. According to the petitioner, Rs 50 crore had been allocated for purchasing books for the knowledge centre, which was inaugurated on Oct 16.A 117-member book recommendation committee was constituted in Nov 2025 to recommend books for procurement. However, a large number of books generated using artificial intelligence (AI) had been purchased from Agal Vilakku and Phoenix publishers, he alleged.He further stated that 162 books authored by a single person, identified as Monica Ravi, had been purchased within six months. Hundreds of books attributed to authors named Lakshmi Mohan, Thamarai Panneer, Thamarai Murali and Jyothi Hariharan had also been procured, raising doubts about the authenticity of these authors.The petitioner further pointed out that the chief minister and leaders of various political parties had expressed their objections over the alleged irregularities. The school education minister had also ordered an administrative inquiry into the issue.The petitioner lodged a complaint with the DVAC on Nov 7 seeking registration of a criminal case and to conduct a probe into the alleged large-scale irregularities, his counsel said.He further contended that the administrative inquiry ordered by the govt was insufficient and sought an impartial investigation into the allegations instead of attributing responsibility to the previous govt without conducting a proper inquiry.
