A specialized bench of the Supreme Court directed the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to submit exhaustive architectural layout blueprints and preservation protocols concerning the proposed relocation of the historic Central Secretariat Library. Taking suo motu cognizance of petitions highlighting preservation risks facing over 8.5 lakh priceless rare volumes and historical archives during ongoing Central Vista redevelopment, the apex court ordered rigorous safeguards against structural damage or document loss.
The judicial division bench mandated that central authorities provide climate-controlled transit arrangements, specialized archival cataloging reports, and environmental monitoring metrics governing the temporary storage repository. Justices cautioned that any inadvertent destruction of invaluable national literary heritage and historic gazetteers during building decommissioning would result in strict contempt proceedings against supervising nodal officials.
Architectural conservationists and academic researchers praised the court’s intervention, emphasizing that vintage collections housed within the library represent irreplaceable cultural knowledge spanning colonial and post-independence administrative history. The government was granted four weeks to place comprehensive structural compliance affidavits on record.
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Sources:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/morning-digest-october-6-2026/article71548693.ece