Register FIR in public library book ‘scam’ case: Madurai Bench of Madras High Court directs DVAC

Taking a serious view of the suspected ‘scam’ in procurement of books for public libraries, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday (November 10, 2026) directed the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to register an FIR and freeze the bank accounts of Agal Vilakku Publications, its proprietor Mohan, and others involved.

‘Share officials’ details’

Hearing a contempt petition filed in this regard, a Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and M.D. Sumathi directed the Director of Public Libraries to make available the names and details of officials who were responsible for allegedly making fraudulent procurements of so-called books during the last two years and more, so that they could be impleaded as contemnors in the petition and dealt with appropriately. The government should immediately take disciplinary action, including the suspension of those involved.

The librarians concerned should take forthwith the inventory of such suspect books and make them unavailable to the reading public, the court directed. The judges directed the authorities to apprise the court of the exact amount spent towards the procurement of such books. All relevant records should be made available (photocopies). In particular, a report should be filed in the form of an affidavit by the Director of Public Libraries setting out the entire sequence and trajectory of events. The persons involved from top to bottom should be identified and named.

“The First Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice R. Mahadevan (As His Lordship then was) and one of us (Justice Swaminathan) on June 19, 2024, disposed of a writ petition pertaining to the procurement of books for public libraries. The writ petition was filed when the AIADMK was in power. It was disposed of when the DMK was at the helm. The TVK leads the governing coalition when the present scandal has erupted. Actors change, actions do not,” the court said. It pointed out that if only the comprehensive directions issued by the court had been followed, procurement would not have been made from dubious entities such as ‘Agal Vilakku’, ‘Sigma’ and ‘Phoenix’ publishers.

The government submitted that the State and the DVAC were actively seized of the matter and effective action was being taken. “While the stand of the respondents does assuage us, we cannot leave the matter at that. We are concerned with a more fundamental issue. Namely, the majesty of this Court. When this Court had passed certain categorical directions on June 19, 2024, as to how the public procurement of books should take place, it ought to have been complied with in letter and spirit. In fact, our order merely echoed the values underlying the Tamil Nadu Public Libraries Act (TN Act 24 of 1948) and the rules framed,” the judges said.

A book with dubious content and false narratives was certainly one with doubtful taste. AI-generated and plagiarised works would also fall within this ambit. While the opinions in a given book may not be acceptable to the reader, the book itself cannot be a bogus product, the court said.

Public libraries have been established to remedy information asymmetry. This was to achieve social justice, empower and educate. By stacking bogus books with false content and books by phantom authors, not only the statutory duty cast under the Tamil Nadu Public Libraries Act, 1948, was being breached, the right to receive accurate and quality information was also infringed, the court said.

“Jean Dreze is a renowned economist. In the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai, one came across a book Democracy and People’s Right in the Contemporary World, attributing authorship to Jean Dreze. The economist has been foxed and baffled. He has denounced the book as fake,” the court said.

“Even though the facts tumbled out of the closet last week, no FIR has been registered. The DVAC is said to be conducting a detailed inquiry. We wondered as to what prevented the DVAC from registering an FIR against unknown public servants. Crores of rupees have gone out of the public exchequer. It was too obvious that a crime of this humongous proportion could not have taken place but for the active involvement of government servants. Not only the BNS provisions but also the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act stand attracted,” the court said.

The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by advocate V. Ramasubbu of Tirunelveli district. The petitioner complained about the non-compliance of the court order passed in 2024. Further hearing in the contempt petition has been posted to November 11.

The Hindu had in its edition dated November 8, 2026, highlighted how the court had warned about irregularities and called for an inquiry in its 2024 order.