Madras court tells libraries to screen out AI-written and copied books
The same order directed police to file an FIR over alleged fraudulent book purchases in Tamil Nadu public libraries.
A division bench of the Madras High Court, Justices G.R. Swaminathan and M.D. Sumathi, ruled on November 10, 2026 that public libraries in Tamil Nadu cannot procure books of "doubtful taste," a category the court said expressly includes AI-generated and plagiarised works, according to Medianama. The court also ordered the registration of an FIR into alleged fraudulent book purchases, in a contempt petition tied to an earlier order on library procurement, Medianama reported.
The case traces back to a 2019 writ petition by S. Krishnan over books procured under different titles and authors' names, and a June 2024 judgment that set out procurement directions the court said had gone unfollowed, per Medianama. That earlier judgment had flagged re-published nationalised books and works with expired copyrights appearing under false titles and authors, and had directed the Director of Public Libraries to run a website publishing shortlisted books for a month of public comment, Medianama reported.
The November 10 order said following those directions could have prevented purchases from publishers the court called "dubious entities," named as Agal Vilakku, Sigma and Phoenix, according to Medianama. The court directed librarians to identify, catalogue and withdraw suspect books from public access, Medianama reported. BBC reported separately that India is investigating an alleged "AI scam" involving public library books in Tamil Nadu.
Here's the line worth underlining: a selection committee now has to actually look at a book before it goes on a public library shelf, and "doubtful taste" officially stretches to cover AI-generated and plagiarised work. That's a real bar, not a vague mood. If you write non-fiction or you're a first-time author hoping to get into a Tamil Nadu public library, expect your book to get looked at harder than it used to, and expect procurement notices to actually show up on a website for public comment this time, since the court says that step was skipped before.
From the Coral Wire edition of Thu, Nov 12 2026
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