Since you are on the subject, I would like to point out to this information, in case other Monks would get stuck in a situation where the original maintainer is no longer available: The Perl programming Authors Upload Server - Taking Over

This is a summary:

So there's a module on CPAN that has a critical bug, lacks some features, or is generally under-maintained and you would like to step in?

It's great that you want to help out and we, the PAUSE admins, really don't want to create any unnecessary barrier to getting involved with an existing module (or distribution) on CPAN. There are, however, some precautions we have to take. The following paragraphs outline the reason for these precautions and the steps you have to take. Please read them carefully.

The majority of modules on CPAN has active maintainers. If the maintainer didn't answer the ticket you created in the request tracker, maybe she doesn't know about the CPAN ticketing system yet? Or she's just very busy this week and will get back to you in due time. The best way of helping out is to talk to the current maintainer about what you can do. Getting the PAUSE admins involved is only a last resort! ... read the rest on The Perl programming Authors Upload Server - Taking Over

Also, for developers who are just getting started with publishing modules on CPAN, there is a tutorial here on PerlMonks: How to make a CPAN Module Distribution.