PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Monday directed the curator of the Central Library to file an affidavit apprising the court about the progress on the contract awarded to repair the air-conditioners.
While hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) suo motu on non-functioning of air-conditioners, the court asked to curator to take into consideration the notes/suggestions submitted by the amicus curie Adv Eshan Usapkar.
Also, the contractor has to be informed that the Court is monitoring this matter and that all efforts be made to complete the repair works within the time-frame of three months.
Advocate General, Devidas Pangam told the Court that the suggestions submitted by the amicus curie will be considered and responded to on the next date of hearing on February 5.
He said that the contractor has been asked to repair the air-conditioners within a time limit of 90 days and that March 2024, the air-conditioning works would be completed.
AG Pangam further stated that necessary steps will be taken to constitute the Goa State Library Council and the Goa state Library Development Cell. During the hearing, the division bench comprising Justices Mahesh Sonak and Valmiki SA Menezes, sought response from the curator on the progress regarding constituting them.
Pointing that the curator has filed an affidavit inter alia on the issue of collection of library cess and utilisation, AG Pangam stated that as of date no books, manuscripts or other documents had been damaged due to non-functioning of air-conditioners.
He pointed out that the process of digitisation of old and rare books and documents was in progress and that a continuous process for large and separate cell has been constituted.
As of date 2,43,834 pages of old and rare books have been scanned and that there is a proposal for large-scale digitisation of old and rare documents/records and that M/s Info tech Corporation of Goa Ltd (ITG) would be involved for this project. The government has also approved to opt for the Document management System (DMS) of M/s ITG for uploading scanned date/documents. Once these documents are scanned they will be hosted on the in-house server of Goa State Central Library He also mentioned steps taken for the preservation, conservation and maintenance of old and rare books in the Central Library.
