Bhubaneswar: Fresh allegations of fraud have surfaced at the Odisha Textbook Production and Marketing Office (TBPM), already under fire for errors in school textbooks.
A section of TBPM employees has accused colleagues of manipulating their dates of birth during the regularisation process to extend their tenure in government service.
The controversy dates back to 2014, when the Orissa High Court directed that private and daily‑labour roll (DLR) workers at TBPM be regularised with government pay scales. It is now alleged that some employees deliberately lowered their recorded age at the time of appointment, enabling them to remain in service longer and delay retirement.
Those raising the issue claim they have been denied promotions despite being regularised, and have approached the High Court again, describing the alleged act as “deliberate fraud”. They alleged that there are some employees at TBPM who have been working for nearly 40 to 45 years.
Attempts to contact senior TBPM officials for comment were unsuccessful.
In October last year, the TBPM director’s office had published a provisional gradation list of regular employees. “Objections, if any, to the entries in the gradation list may be filed within 7 days from the date of publication of this Notice. If no objection is received within the stipulated time, the published gradation list will be treated as final, and no claims or objections would be entertained in the future,” a notice dated 30 October 2025 said.