This is a very reasonable point. The people willing and capable of updating this mod are much more likely to hold off until they hear from the developer. Without hearing if the mod will or won't be updated they likely will not step in and spend time and effort when it could be redundant and pointless. However, if the author states he is unable to update the mod himself those people would likely step in and gladly take care of this wonderful mod.
Just look at TAC Life Support as an example of a mod who's author said "hey guys I'm busy with school" and a group of people stepped up to port it to 1.1.2 for him.