HB-2125 Ex. Ord. 80 L. C. BILL No. X OF 2024. A BILL further to amend the Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967.

RNI No. MAHENG /2009/35528

महाराष्ट्रट शासन राजपत्र

असाधाराण भाग आठ

वर्ष १०, अंक ३१(२)] सोमवारा, डिसंबरा १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शाके १९४६ [पृष्ठे ७, डिकंमत : रुपये २७.००

असाधाराण क्रमांक ८०

प्राडिधाकृत प्राकाशान

महाराष्ट्र डिवधानमंळाचे अडिधाडिनयम व राज्यपालांांनी प्राख्याडिपत केलांेलांे अध्यादेशा व केलांेलांे

डिवडिनयम आडिण डिवडिधा व न्याय डिवभागाकून आलांेलांी डिवधाेयके (इंग्रजी अनुवादे).

In pursuance of clause (3) of article 348 of the Constitution of India, the following translation in English of the Maharashtra Public Libraries (Amendment) Bill, 2024 (L.C. Bill No. X of 2024), introduced in the Maharashtra Legislative Council on the 16th December 2024, is hereby published under the authority of the Governor.

By order and in the name of the Governor of Maharashtra,

SATISH WAGHOLE, Secretary (Legislation) to Government, Law and Judiciary Department.

L. C. BILL No. X OF 2024.

A BILL

further to amend the Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967.

WHEREAS both Houses of the State Legislature were not in session;

AND WHEREAS the Governor of Maharashtra was satisfied that circumstances existed which rendered it necessary for him to take immediate action further to amend the Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967 for the purposes hereinafter appearing; and, therefore, promulgated the Maharashtra Public Libraries (Amendment ) Ordinance, 2024 on the 15th October 2024 ;

Mah. XXXIV of 1967. Mah. Ord. XIII of 2024.

भाग आठ-८०–१

(१)

HB 2125–1२ महाराष्ट्रट शासन राजपत्र असाधाराण भाग आठ, डिसंबरा १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शाके १९४६ AND WHEREAS, it is expedient to replace the said Ordinance by an Act of the State Legislature ; it is hereby enacted in the Seventy-fifith Year of the Republic of India as follows :—

1. (1) This Act may be called the Maharashtra Public Libraries (Amendment) Act, 2024.

Short title and commence- ment.

(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 15th October 2024.

Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

Amendment of section 2 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

2. In section 2 of the Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967 (hereinafter referred to as "the principal Act"), in clause (i), after the words "discs or tapes used for audio-visual information" the words "e-resources such as e-book, e-periodicals, e-database" shall be inserted.

3. In section 3 of the principal Act,—

(a) in sub-section (2),—

Amendment of section 3 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

(i) after clause (iii), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely :—

"(iii-a) the Principal Secretary or Secretary, School Education and Sports Department of Government of Maharashtra;

(iii-b) the Director, Information Technology Department, Government of Maharashtra;";

(ii) clauses (v), (viii), (ix) and (x) shall be deleted;

(iii) for clause (xii), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :—

"(xii) President of each Divisional Library Association;";

(iv) for clause (xiv), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :—

"(xiv) three members to be nominated by the State Government from amongst persons who, in its opinion, have special knowledge or interest or practical experience in matters connected with library service:

Provided that, from amongst the three members, the Director, Knowledge Resources Center of the university under the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016 shall be the ex-officio member and one member shall be a woman;";

Mah. VI of 2017.

(b) in sub-section (3), for the word "elected" the word "nominated" shall be substituted.

4. After section 4 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely :—

Insertion of section 4A in Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

"4A. (1) The Council may constitute Committees for such purposes as Other Committees.

it thinks necessary for its efficient functioning.

(2) The number of members of every such Committee constituted by the Council under sub-section (1), the term of office of the members, the duties to be performed and functions to be discharged by the members of such Committee shall be such as may be decided by the Council.".

5. For section 6 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be

substituted, namely :—

Amendment of section 6 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

Casual vacancies in Council.

"6. A vacancy in the office of a nominated member of the Council occurring otherwise than by efflux of time shall be filled by nomination and such person shall hold office only for the remainder of the term for which the member whose place he was nominated.

Removal of member.

6A. (1) The Government may, after making such inquiry, as it may think fit, by order, remove any nominated member of the Council, if such member,—

(a) has been convicted by a court in India for any offence involving

moral turpitude; or

(b) become an undischarged insolvent and stands so declared by

a competent Court; or

(c) become physically unfit and incapable of discharging the functions or duties of the office due to protracted illness or physical disability; or

(d) is of unsound mind and stands so declared by the competent

Court; or

(e) is acting in a way detrimental to the aims and objects of the

Council :

Provided that, no order under clause (e) shall be made for removal of a

member unless he has been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

(2) The Government may suo motu by an order remove any member of the Council nominated or appointed, whose activities, in the opinion of the Government are detrimental to, or obstruct the proper functioning of the Council:

Provided that, no member shall be removed from office unless he has been

given a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) and (2), the nominated member of the Council shall hold office during the pleasure of the Government and shall be removed at any time by the Government, if it deems fit.".

6. In section 9 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),—

Amendment of section 9 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

(a) in clause (d), after the word "Divisional" the word "District" shall

be inserted;

(b) after clause (h), the following clause shall be inserted, namely :—

"(h-1) organize and conduct programmes for training of the

persons working with the public libraries;".

7. In section 11 of the principal Act,—

Amendment of section 11 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

(1) in sub-section (1), for the words "and a Divisional Library for every Division" the words "a Divisional Library for every Division and a District Library for every District" shall be substituted;

(2) in sub-section (2), for the words and figures "Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950" the words "Maharashtra Public Trusts Act" shall be substituted.

Bom. XXIX of 1950. XXIX of 1950.

8. In section 13 of the principal Act,—

(a) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, Amendment of section 13 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

namely :—

"(2) The Committee shall consist of the following members, namely :—

(b) sub-section (3) shall be deleted.

9. After section 15 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely :—

Insertion of section 15A in Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

"15A. The provision of section 6A shall be mutatis mutandis applicable for the removal of any nominated member of the Committee.".

Removal of member of Committee.

10. In section 16 of the principal Act, for clause (i), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :—

"(i) to advise the Council on all matters relating to development of Amendment of section 16 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967. library service in the District;".

11. In section 18 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),—

(a) in clause (c),—

Amendment of section 18 of Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

(i) after the words "for development" the words "and modernization" shall be inserted;

(ii) the word "and" shall be deleted.

(b) in clause (d), for the words "public libraries" the words "public

libraries; and" shall be substituted;

(c) after clause (d), the following clause shall be added, namely :—

"(e) any contribution or donations made by public trust, private trust, co-operative society, local authority, company and industrial enterprises for public libraries.".

12. After section 26 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be

added, namely :—

Insertion of sections 27 and 28 in Mah. XXXIV of 1967.

"27. No act or proceedings of the Council or any Committee shall be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of such Council or Committee.

Acts and proceedings not invalid merely on ground of defect in constitution and vacancy.

Protection of action taken in good faith.

28. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against any person for anything which is done in good faith or intended to be done under this Act or any rules made thereunder.".

13. (1) The Maharashtra Public Libraries (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024,

is hereby repealed.

Mah. Ord. XIII of 2024.

Repeal of Mah. Ord. XIII of 2024 and saving.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken (including any notification or order issued) under the corresponding provisions of the principal Act, as amended by the said Ordinance, shall be deemed to have been done, taken or, as the case may be, issued under the corresponding provisions of the principal Act, as amended by this Act.

भाग आठ-८०–२

HB 2125–2६ महाराष्ट्रट शासन राजपत्र असाधाराण भाग आठ, डिसंबरा १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शाके १९४६

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

The Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967 (Mah. XXXIV of 1967) has been enacted to provide for the establishment, maintenance, organisation and development of public libraries in the State of Maharashtra.

2. To cope up with, changing needs of reading habits in the society, use of modern technological devices for reading, to develop and flourish reading culture and library movement in the changing environment of the society, it was considered expedient to reconstruct and to streamline the work procedure of the State Library Council and District Library Committee by amending sections 2, 3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16 and 18 and by adding new sections 4A, 15A, 27 and 28 in the Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967, suitably.

3. The salient features of the amendments are as follows, namely :—

(a) to include the e-resources such as e-book, e-periodicals, e-database in the definition of the book;

(b) to include such other persons from concerned Government Departments as member of the Council;

(c) to provide for constitution of other committees by the Council;

(d) to provide for removal of members of the Council;

(e) to include the District libraries for the recognition for the purpose of grant- in-aid from the library fund and disburse it;

(f) to provide for organisation and conduct of programmes for training;

(g) to make provision for establishment of District library for every District;

(h) to provide that the Library Fund shall also consist of any contribution or donations by public trust, private trust, co-operative society, local authority, company and industrial enterprise for public libraries.

4. As both the Houses of State Legislature were not in session and the Governor of Maharashtra was satisfied that circumstances existed which rendered it necessary for him to take immediate action further to amend the Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967, for the purposes aforesaid, the Maharashtra Public Libraries (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024 (Mah. Ord. XIII of 2024), was promulgated by the Governor of Maharashtra on the 15th October 2024.

5. The Bill is intended to replace the said Ordinance by an Act of the State Legislature.

Nagpur, DEVENDRA FADNAVIS, Dated the 15th December 2024. Chief Minister.

MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION

The Bill involves the following proposal for delegation of legislative power,

namely :—

Clause 6A.— Under this clause, power is taken to the State Government

to issue an order for removing any nominated member of the Council.

2. The above-mentioned proposal for delegation of legislative power is of

a normal character.

On behalf of Government Prin ting, Stationery and Publication, Printed and Published by Director, RUPENDRA DINESH MORE, Printed at Government Press AND BOOK DEPOT, Civil Lines, Nagpur-440 001 and Published at Directorate of Government Printing, Stationery and Publication, 21-A, Netaji Subhash Road, Charni Road, Mumbai-400 004. Editor : Director, RUPENDRA DINESH MORE.