The inception of the decades old Bombay High Court Judge’’ Library is somewhat obscure. The library finds mention in a book by former judge B N Gokhale whose The Story of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay After Independence covers the post-independence period between 1947 and 1962. A paragraph in the book talks about a conference held at the library: “The second conference was held on March 23, 1951 in the judge’’ library of the Bombay High Court. It was presided by the honorable Chief Justice Mr M C Chagla.” Chief Librarian Uma Narayan says the book is a significant clue that the library is more than half a century old. Just why its history is unclear is not known, but it might well be that the library with over 1.25 lakh books and spread across 2,630 square feet on the ground floor of one of the oldest high courts in the country actually had a rather modest beginning. [related-post] A spiral staircase from room number 55 on the second floor leads to room number 72 on the third floor. “The library used to be in room number 55,” says Narayan, who joined the library in 1998. Over the years, the library saw inclusion of international law reports and documents after the Indian Constitution came into being. “The Judges’ Library had to be replenished at considerable expense with American law reports and other publications on constitutional law after the Constitution,” writes Gokhale. The library was shifted with its lakh-odd books from the second floor to the ground floor in 2007. “Since multiple copies of books had to be weeded out, we distributed them to libraries of district court,” recalls Narayan. The new library had legal commentaries shelved in steel cupboards; law reports in deep shelves and Bare Acts in racks. However, the library was far from state-of-the-art. With current Chief Justice Mohit Shah’s assistance, and freedom given by then administrative judge D Y Chandrachud to revamp the library, Narayan could not ask for more. On October 22, 2012, the library comprising five sections was inaugurated with a remarkable makeover. The renovated library now has five sections — circulation, accounts, legislation and periodicals, digitisation and information management. The library has also been through a digital transformation and now has thousands of documents digitised. All the reading material is uploaded on a redesigned and updated e-library on the Bombay High Court website. A digital scanner, a rarity among high courts in India, scans fragile and primitive documents without coming in contact with them.” “You just need to flip the pages carefully, as it has been specially procured to scan old documents of historical value,” says Narayan. Librarian Nilleema N Deo says digitsation has helped them immortalise documents such as judgments of Sudr Deewani Adalut, a precursor to the High Court. The merger of the Supreme Court of Bombay and Sudr Deewani Adalat in 1862 gave rise to the Bombay High Court. Emphasising that the pleasure of reading books is “something different”, Narayan says the library has witnessed a rise in visitation in the past one year. Though a judges’ library, it can also cater to research scholars, law students and lawyers who come with special permission. “We have had visitors from Philippines, the Chief Justice Singapore in addition to former Indian Chief Justices Altamas Kabir and P Sathasivam. Recently we had a couple of students from National Law University, Delhi internin” here,” says Narayan. Regular visitors Justice M S Sanklecha and Justice M S Sonak, who are sitting judges, can often be found searching for the right choice of books, says a staffer. aamir.khan@expressindia.com
