Govt cites cyclone damage, seeks more time to set right Anna library

CHENNAI: Madras high court has given four weeks for the Tamil Nadu government to set right defects at the swanky Anna Centenary Library (ACL), as pointed out by a PIL-petitioner, whose initiative had saved the institution from being converted into an hospital more than five years ago.
On Tuesday, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh also recorded the government’s submission that the promised works had been delayed due to the damage caused by Cyclone Vardah.It then asked the court-appointed advocate-commissioner to visit the library premises after four weeks to ascertain status.
Noting that additional advocate-general Venkataramani had said all aspects pointed out by the court had been attended to periodically, but they were disrupted by some damage caused by Cyclone Vardah, the judges said, “four weeks’ time granted. PT Asha, who is the member of the committee, may visit after four weeks and verify that by and large all aspects are attended to.” the bench then posted the matter February 21 for further proceedings.
Earlier, P Wilson, senior counsel for the petitioner, argued that despite several adjournments over the past 16 months, the authorities were not complying with the court's directions to restore all facilities in the library and fill staff vacancies.
He submitted a detailed memo of non-compliance showing the violations and said that even a chief librarian had not been appointed so far. Director of public libraries post has been lying vacant for several years without a permanent appointee, Wilson said, adding that people visiting the library were greatly prejudiced by lack of basic infrastructure such as clean toilets, elevators and wi-fi.
During arguments, the bench sought to know from additional advocate-general as to how many students were visiting the library daily. To this, he replied that about 2,000 students visited the library every day, prompting the bench to remark, “and yet you sought to keep the library closed for so many years".