(१)

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.

HB 2125–1

RNI No. MAHENG /2009/35528

महाारााष्ट्रट शाासन रााजपत्र

असाधाारण भााग आठ

वर्षष १०, अंक ३१(२)]

सोमवार, डि’सेंबर १६, २०२४/अग्रहाायण २५, शकेे १९४६

[पृष्ठे 7, किं�ंमत : रुपये २७.००

असाधाारण क्रमांं�क ८०

प्रााधि�कृृत प्रकााशन

महाारााष्ट्र वि�धाानमंडळााचेे अधि�नि�यम व रााज्यपालांं�नी प्रख्यापि�त केलेले अध्यादेेश व केलेले

वि�नि�यम आणि� वि�धि� व न्याय वि�भाागाकडून आलेली वि�धेेयके (इंंग्रजी अनुवाद).

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.

भााग आठ-८०–१

महाराष्ट्रõ शासन रा

असाधारण भाग आठ, डिसेंबर १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शके १

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.

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

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),—

(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;”;

(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 :—

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

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.”.

Short

title and

commence-

ment.

Amendment

of section 2 of

Mah. XXXIV

of 1967.

Amendment

of section 3 of

Mah. XXXIV

of 1967.

Insertion of

section 4A in

Mah. XXXIV

of 1967.

Other

Committees.

Mah.

XXXIV

of 1967.

Mah. VI

of 2017.

महाराष्ट्रõ शासन रा

असाधारण भाग आठ, डिसेंबर १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शके १

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

substituted, namely :—

“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.

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

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),—

(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,—

(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;

Amendment

of section 6 of

Mah. XXXIV

of 1967.

Casual

vacancies in

Council.

Removal of

member.

Amendment

of section 9 of

Mah. XXXIV

of 1967.

Amendment of

section 11 of

Mah. XXXIV of

1967.

महाराष्ट्रõ शासन रा

असाधारण भाग आठ, डिसेंबर १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शके १

(2) in sub-section (2), for the words and figures “Bombay Public Trusts

Act, 1950” the words “Maharashtra Public Trusts Act” shall be substituted.

8. In section 13 of the principal Act,—

(a) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted,

namely :—

“(2) The Committee shall consist of the following members,

namely :—

Sr.

No.

Designation

Designation of the

Committee

(1)

(2)

(3)

(i)

Collector of the District or his nominee not

below the rank of Additional Collector,

Chairperson;

(ii)

Planning Officer of the District,

Member;

(iii)

Education Officer (Secondary) of the District,

Member;

(iv)

President of the District Library Association,

Member;

(v)

two persons to be nominated by the State

Government, who shall be well-known literary

personality from the district of whom one shall

be a woman,

Member;

(vi)

three persons nominated by the Collector from

the District of whom one shall be an office bearer

of a public library, a librarian of public library

and a college librarian and one of whom shall be

a women,

Member;

(vii)

District Library Officer of the respective District

Library,

Member-

Secretary.”;

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

9. After section 15 of the principal Act, the following section shall be

inserted, namely :—

“15A. The provision of section 6A shall be mutatis mutandis applicable

for the removal of any nominated member of the 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

library service in the District;”.

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

(a) in clause (c),—

(i) after the words “for development” the words “and modernization”

shall be inserted;

(ii) the word “and” shall be deleted.

Bom.

XXIX of

1950.

XXIX of

1950.

Insertion of

section 15A in

Mah. XXXIV

of 1967.

Amendment of

section 13

of Mah.

XXXIV of

1967.

Removal of

member of

Committee.

Amendment

of section

16 of Mah.

XXXIV of

1967.

Amendment of

section 18 of

Mah. XXXIV of

1967.

महाराष्ट्रõ शासन रा

असाधारण भाग आठ, डिसेंबर १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शके १

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

libraries; and” shall be substituted;

“(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 :—

“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.

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.

(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.

Insertion of

sections 27

and 28 in Mah.

XXXIV of 1967.

Acts and

proceedings not

invalid merely

on ground

of defect in

constitution

and vacancy.

Protection of

action taken in

good faith.

Repeal of

Mah. Ord. XIII

of 2024 and

saving.

Mah.

Ord.

XIII of

2024.

HB 2125–2

भााग आठ-८०–२

महाराष्ट्रõ शासन रा

असाधारण भाग आठ, डिसेंबर १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शके १

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;

(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.

महाराष्ट्रõ शासन रा

असाधारण भाग आठ, डिसेंबर १६, २०२४/अग्रहायण २५, शके १

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.