Peeved over the situation, the state government has now made it mandatory for its employees to seek a "no demand certificate" (NDC) from its library in the civil secretariat for full and final settlement of their claims at the time of retirement. Significantly, procuring this NDC has been made mandatory even for those who have served in the civil secretariat for only a brief period.

As per rules, a government servant is required to clear all his dues before the due date of his retirement. In this connection, a procedure has been also laid down in the rules with regard to the recovery of ascertainable dues from a retiring government servant and issuance of "no demand certificate" thereof. However, there are no specific instructions with regard to obtaining "NDC" on account of books borrowed by a government servant from the government libraries during his service career.

Giving details, officials point out that of the total 12,000 books on record of the civil secretariat's library nearly 3,000 have been taken away by politicians and bureaucrats, who included even a former chief minister and some ex-chief secretaries of the state. As junior rung officials manning the library dare not to call upon these influential people, the latter do not return the books borrowed from the library.

A number of these borrowers have retired or even expired, officials said, adding that the books pertained to references on Kashmir. Some of these were published over 50 years ago and as such, are not available in the market, at present.

Giving instances, sources pointed out that former Chief Secretary Moosa Raja has taken away ten books, while another ex-Chief Secretary M P Khosla has to return 11 books. The books are so old that many of them carry the cost value as Rs 12.50 to Rs 15 only.

The question is not about the cost of books, but about the precious treasure collected by the state over the period. One cannot find those books even at whatsoever cost as most of the writers too may have died, said an official who wished not to be quoted.

Now, in an effort to get back some of these books, the state's General Administration Department has issued a circular saying that "it has been noticed that many officers during their posting in the civil secretariat have borrowed books, but have not returned the same before or after their retirement. This has not only led to depletion of this valuable treasure, but has also denied access of other readers to these books".