After Express report, Supreme Court notice to Centre on Central Secretariat Library relocation - The Indian Express

The Supreme Court Monday sought a detailed affidavit from the Centre on its plans to relocate the 135-year-old Central Secretariat Library (CSL) from New Delhi’s Shastri Bhavan, which is proposed to be demolished as part of the Central Vista revamp plan.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva, which took note of an Indian Express report on the matter, issued notice to the Centre and sought an “affidavit with full details of the area which would be allotted for housing the library along with actual layout plans.”

The court also asked the Centre to indicate whether the proposed library will be “sufficient to house not only the books which are presently stored in Shastri Bhavan, but also the books which are stated to be lying in R K Puram…”.

“Credit where it’s due. This issue was flagged by one of my former colleagues, a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court who is as fond of paper as he is now appreciative of AI and all that it has to offer,” Justice Kumar said.

Turning to Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared for the Centre, he referred to the Express report and said, “Going by this newspaper report, this is a library which dates back to 1891 with writings of 1702″.

“It’s fine to say we should cut down on paper, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of the valuable papers you already have. You are allotting two rooms in that Kartavya Bhavan, that’s it?”

Bhati said that after the issue was flagged, she had taken instructions and handed over a report to the bench.

As the bench said it would issue notice, she said it may not be necessary, as the report’s instructions answer the doubts. Justice Kumar, however, said it would not do, and the Centre should file a proper reply, an affidavit giving an undertaking.

Bhati pointed out that the report is signed by the director, Central Vista. “Please see what is planned,” she added.

Justice Kumar also asked if the space proposed to be allocated is “leaving out the 2 lakh books which are lying in R K Puram”. “Cartons which have not been opened since 2011.”

To which Bhati said, “Bigger space across two floors is being planned”.

When Justice Kumar expressed doubt as to whether this includes the two lakh books stored in R K Puram, Bhati pointed out that the proposed area is more than the current area.

The bench said it would still need an affidavit. The bench added the Centre must produce detailed plans “because if you are having conference rooms etc, the actual storage area for these books, you have to tell us if there is enough area, because if you have all these trappings there, then the area for actual book storage would go down drastically.

The bench fixed the matter for hearing it next on November 16.

On September 30, The Indian Express report titled “In Re: 135-Yr-Old Library 8.5 Lakh Books – And No Room In The New Central Vista Plan” explained how, when King George V announced the decision to shift the capital of British India from Calcutta, now Kolkata, to Delhi in 1911, the Central Secretariat Library, then known as the Imperial Secretariat Library, moved with it, finding its first home in the Old Secretariat Building in the Civil Lines area.

After the British built a new seat of power around Raisina Hill, the library moved again to the North Block and then to Shastri Bhawan, where it has remained since 1969.

The report said that with Shastri Bhawan set to be pulled down as part of the Central Vista revamp plan, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Central Public Works Department (CPWD) were yet to find space for the Library.

It added that in January, the Directorate of Estates under the MoHUA allotted two rooms totalling 300 square metres at Kartavya Bhawan-2 for the CSL, but the Ministry of Culture, which administers the CSL, rejected it, replying that the space allotted was far from sufficient.

Ananthakrishnan G. is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express. He has been in the field for over 26 years, kicking off his journalism career as a freelancer in the late nineties with bylines in The Hindu. A graduate in law, he practised in the District judiciary in Kerala for about two years before switching to journalism. His first permanent assignment was with The Press Trust of India in Delhi where he was assigned to cover the lower courts and various commissions of inquiry. He reported from the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India during his first stint with The Indian Express in 2005-2006. Currently, in his second stint with the daily newspaper, he reports from the Supreme Court and writes on topics related to law and the administration of justice. Legal reporting is his forte though he has extensive experience in political and community reporting too, having spent a decade as Kerala state correspondent, The Times of India and The Telegraph. He is a stickler for facts and has several impactful stories to his credit. ... Read More