Saturday, June 18 2005 13:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Government today (Jun 18, 2005) announced its decision to stop the sale of the revised edition of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi on the ground that it contained "innumerable errors" and "misleading deletions."

"The original edition will be treated as the official edition," Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said at a press conference in New Delhi.

He said CD-ROM would also be revised and contain the facsimile of the original edition.

To help and guide those who have purchased the revised edition, a Concordance Table, which has been prepared, would be made available, he said.

Reddy said a number of complaints were received from Gandhian institutions and eminent individuals about the large number of errors and misleading deletions in the revised 100-volume series.

Citing some of them, he said the preface written by former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi had been deleted in the revised edition in which people who carried out corrections thought Maulana Azad was two persons with names of 'Maulana' and 'Azad'.

Asked who took the decision to go ahead with the revised edition, he said, "There is no record to show who took the decision" and hence it was not possible to fix responsibility.

"It looks as if the decision was taken by default", he said adding, "It is also a reflection of the governance we are providing to the Government".