Anna Centenary Library upkeep: HC comes down hard on TN govt

The Madras High Court today came down hard on Tamil Nadu government for being unable to rectify alleged deficiencies in implementation of suggestions made by a two-member advocates Commission for upkeep of Anna Centenary Library and orally observed that it may be constrained to appoint a committee to take over and manageg it.
The First bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh, made the observation after going through the additional report filed by the Commission on the factual position of implementation of its suggestions for upkeep of the facility.
The court observed it cannot be expected to every now and then supervise, despite giving repeated orders on the matter.

The bench asked Additional Advocate General P H Arvind Pandian to specify the date by which nothing would be left to be done further and said it would send the Commission to see if all aspects had been attended to in every manner.
The bench noted that the report had stated that a number of deficiencies still remained and the AAG's reply that steps are being taken to remove them. It asked him to specify a time frame within which nothing would be left to be done further.
The AAG, on instructions, said June 30 may be taken as the cutoff date for everything to be completed.

"We call upon the authorities to file a report in terms aforesaid along with the relevant photographs and thereafter we will determine whether another visit of the two-member Commission is necessary or not."

The bench said it would be constrained to appoint a committee to take over and manage it if these are not done.
The High Court had on February 26 directed the Commission to visit the library to verify the factual position on the alleged deficiencies.
The same bench had given the direction when a petition of non-compliance of its earlier order came up for hearing.
After hearing submissions by the counsel for the petitioner of the PIL, over which the court had earlier set up the panel to look into the state of affairs of the library, the bench had directed it to verify the discrepancies and file a status report by today.

The PIL had been filed challenging AIADMK government's proposal to convert the library, built by the previous DMK dispensation, into a Super Specialty Hospital for children.
The court had earlier directed the government to implement the suggestions made by the Commission.