Madras High Court stays plan to turn library into hospital CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday stayed the Tamil Nadu government's controversial proposal to shift the recently-constructed Anna Centenary Library to DPI campus in Nungambakkam. A bench of Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam granted stay after three PILs were filed questioning the decision . It also directed the government to file a counter affidavit in six weeks. The petition was filed by advocate P Pugalenthi, who claimed the November 1 decision of the state cabinet to shift the library would be "arbitrary, unfair and unreasonable." Chief minister Jayalalithaa had on Wednesday announced that the library, set up by the previous M Karunanidhi government for Rs 230 crore, would be converted into a children's specialty hospital. Justifying her decision on shifting the library, she had said her government, by initiating the effort, has put the state in the forefront of child care. The PILs said it was a political move that would affect the children's right to education . Chief Justice Eqbal, who had only last month attended a function at the library, observed on Friday that it was indeed a beautiful building. If the government wants to build a new hospital, it can do it elsewhere, he said. Writers, including Sa Kandasamy, Indira Parthasarathy, Nanjil Nadan, Prabanchan and Manushya Puthiran among others, some of them Sahitya Akademi Award recipients , expressed "shock" and said the library should be allowed to continue at the Kotturpuram site itself, earlier selected by Jayalalithaa to construct a new Assembly complex during her 2001-06 regime. Soon after coming to power in May, Jayalalithaa had announced the conversion of the under-construction secretariat premises into a super-speciality hospital and shifted the secretariat back to the centuries-old Fort St George. The Jayalalithaa government had also stopped the DMK's flagship programme of supplying free colour TVs, and recast an insurance scheme named after Karunanidhi. Source of Information: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com -- Thanks and Regards *-------* Join hands, Join eLibrarian http://elibrarian.grouply.com <http://elibrarian.grouply.com%20/> *-------* *Pawan R. Agrawal *Librarian Takshshila Centre for Learning Transpek Silox Industry Ltd. Kalali Road- Atladra Vadodara- 390012 Ph. 9376135580 http://www.pragrawal.wordpress.com http://elibrarian.grouply.com Skype ID: pawanagrawal4u4u -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.