Underlining the significance of librarians, Chief Justice Sangam Kumar cited Neil Gaiman, the author of The Graveyard Book who said, “Google can bring you back 1,00,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one."
In Dr. Ranganathan Rajya Pustakalaya Samiti & Anr. vs. The State of Bihar & Ors. (2026), Patna High Court's Division Bench of Chief Justice Sahoo and Justice Harish Kumar delivered a 10-page long order dated May 15, 2026, wherein, it concluded:"In the eyes of the law, a vacant librarian post, especially in a University is not merely an administrative oversight; it is seen as a functional breakdown in the "administration of justice" and the "academic health" of an institution. The vacancy of a librarian is not an administrative choice but a failure of the State's duty to provide the necessary infrastructure for education and justice. In the absence of a Librarian, physical collection of books deteriorate without proper preservation protocols, reference services remain absent, institutional subscriptions to journals and databases are not procured, managed, or optimised, and no systematic weeding or collection takes place. 7. With the aforesaid direction and observation, the matter be listed on 06.07.2026." The order was authored by the outgoing chief justice who is retiring on June 4, 2026. The case will now be heard by the next chief justice.
The petitioner no. 2 is Harishanker Prakash, a resident of Mahinawan Bazar, Maner, Patna. The other five respondents are: Chancellor of the University of Bihar, Patna, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Education, Patna, Director, Higher Education, Education Department, Patna, Patna University and Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur.
The case was filed on December 17, 2020 and registered on January 23, 2021. Significantly, five chief justices, namely, Justices Sanjay Karol, K. Vinod Chandran, Vipul Manubhai Pancholi, P.B. Bajanthri and now Sahoo heard the case since June 2021 but the posts of the librarians have not been filled up.
The High Court's 4-page long order dated March 25, 2026 reads: "This Public Interest Litigation has been filed seeking a direction to the concerned authorities to initiate the process of appointment to the post of Librarian in various higher educational institutions in the State of Bihar, as the posts have remained unfilled since 1990. Consequently, the libraries have become defunct and are being run by unqualified persons in an unprofessional manner, resulting in immense difficulties for the students, faculty members, as well as the colleges and educational institutions in the State of Bihar." Amicus Curiae placed before the Court a datasheet regarding the number of vacancies in different Universities in the State of Bihar, which reveals that 289 posts of librarians are vacant. A copy of the datasheet was furnished to P.K Shahi the Advocate General, who sought some time to obtain instruction. Advocate General sought adjournment on April 30, 2026 and prayed for a short adjournment on May 6, 2026 to ensure filing of a supplementary counter affidavit bringing on record necessary facts.
The May 15, 026 order has recorded that in pursuance of the order of the High Court dated May 13, 2026, the Vice-Chancellors of the different Universities, namely, Munger University, Munger; Patliputra University, Patna; Maulana Mazharul Haque Arabic & Persian University, Patna; Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Darbhanga; Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga; Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur; B.N. Mandal University, Madhepura; Purnea University, Purnea; Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara; Magadh University, Bodh Gaya; Patna University, Patna; Jai Prakash University, Chapra; and Baba Saheb Bheem Rao Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur; Aryabhatta Knowledge University, Patna as well as Nalanda Open University are connected through virtual mode in the proceeding.
The High Court's order dated May 13, 2026 reads:"2. In terms of the order dated 25.03.2026 passed by this Court, notices along with a copy of the writ petition and the said order were transmitted through e-mail to the Vice-Chancellors of all the Universities referred to therein. The e-mail service reports have also been brought on record. However, despite service of notice, no response has been filed on behalf of any of the Vice-Chancellors of the concerned Universities till date. 3. The matter was earlier taken up on 30.04.2026 and, on the prayer made by the learned Advocate General seeking a short adjournment, the case has been listed today. From the record, it appears that neither any affidavit nor any document has been filed on behalf of the Vice-Chancellors concerned. It further appears that no steps have been taken either for filing a response or for engagement of counsel to represent them before this Court. 4. Considering the importance of the matter, this Court is left with no option but to direct the personal appearance of all the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities referred in the order dated 25.03.2026, particularly those mentioned in paragraph 4 thereof. 5. Accordingly, all the Vice-Chancellors shall ensure their presence through virtual mode on 15.05.2026 at 11:00 A.M."
The order dated May 15, 026 reads:"5. In order to resolve the dispute, and the acute scarcity of Librarians, as has been raised in the present Public Interest Litigation, we direct all the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities to ensure that where the roster clearance has not been done, they shall take all the requisite necessary actions to get the roster clearance done expeditiously and thereupon, send the requisition to the Director, Higher Education. Since the roster clearance is to be made at the level of the Divisional Commissioner, we further direct the Divisional Commissioner of all the Divisions, where the process of roster clearance is pending, to take up the matter forthwith and pass necessary order with regard to the roster clearance. It is made clear that in those Universities where the list of necessary vacancy position has not been sent for roster clearance, the concerned Vice-Chancellor of the said Universities must ensure and send the list of on date vacancies to the concerned Divisional Commissioner for roster clearance. In order to ensure that all the vacancies are filled up immediately, we will also provide the timeline to all the concerned authorities. In those cases, where vacancies position of the posts have not been sent up to the office of Divisional Commissioner, it must be sent within two weeks from today. The Divisional Commissioners of respective division are directed to complete the formalities of roster clearance within a further period of two weeks. On receipt of the roster clearance, the Vice-Chancellor of different Universities shall ensure that requisition for filling up the vacancies must reach in the office of Director, Higher Education within a further period of two weeks. It is expected that all the authorities must adhere to the timeline, framed hereinabove."
Prior to this High Court's order dated September 15, 2023 recorded:"A counter affidavit dated 27.07.2023 puts forth steps taken by the Government in making appointments to the post of Librarians. It is the submission of the Government that before proceeding with the selection, the Government has attempted to
ascertain the sanctioned posts of non-teaching employees of Grade-III in University/Constituent Colleges of the State, so as to have a clear picture of the existing vacancies of the Librarians. A communication was issued to all the Universities which have been replied to and the collation of data has been going on."
Earlier, the High Court's order dated April 7, 2023 recorded that counter affidavits filed in 2021 had submitted to the High Court that there was a proposal to appoint a Commission to carry out the appointments, especially since the appointments carried out by the Universities were not approved by the State Government. The 4th respondent, i.e., the Director, Higher Education, Education Department, was asked to file an affidavit as to the further steps taken in constituting a Commission and making the appointments to the post of Librarians as sought for, in the writ petition.
It is noteworthy that the report of the Bihar Assembly Library Committee presented to the assembly had pointed out in 2023 that from over 500 six decades back, the number of public libraries in the state has gone down to 51. Sudama Prasad, the chairperson of the committee had presented its report for the first time in the 100 years' history of the Vidhan Sabha. Director (library and information) Sachindra Kumar had announced the formation of a state-level library planning committee headed by additional chief secretary in December 2022. As per the data submitted by the education department to the library committee of the assembly, out of the 38 districts in the state, only 19 have central libraries. Notably, divisional libraries are there only in six of the nine divisional headquarters in the state.
Also read: How Bihar is rapidly losing the libraries that it was once famous for
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