What led the HRD Ministry to strip the Council of Architecture (CoA) of its powers to regulate architecture education in the country? Not many know that behind the appropriation of the regulatory powers by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) lies the CoA’s recent legal battles against different wings of the ministry.The genesis of the issue lies in a litigation filed by the Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Indian Institute of Architects some months ago. The IIA AP chapter had joined issue with the AICTE over the latter’s decision to permit lateral entry admissions for B. Arch courses. It contended that the CoA’s objections to lateral entry admissions would prevail over the AICTE decision as the CoA was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1972. The AICTE came into the scene only in 1987. When the dispute persisted, the AP chapter moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court where the case is now pending. ‘‘This led to bad blood between the two bodies,’’ says an IIA office-bearer.Ironically, the MoU was signed ‘‘to avoid duplication of efforts’’ in regulating architecture education. In the meantime, the Tamil Nadu chapter of the IIA hauled up Anna University in the court for seeking to do away with the conduct of aptitude test at the entrance level for B. Arch admissions. It even successfully moved a contempt petition against the varsity Vice-Chancellor. It also took offence to the manner in which the Tamil Nadu government had gone ahead with inviting architectural designs for the new Secretariat project and sought to de-recognise the architects who had placed tenders.What seems to have been the final icing on the cake was the AP and TN chapters’ decision to confront the CBSE, a key HRD Ministry body, on the manner of conducting the entrance test for admission to B. Arch courses in Central universities. The CBSE had announced that a mere pass in Std XII was sufficient to take the entrance examination, whereas the CoA had prescribed a minimum of 50 per cent marks in higher secondary to qualify. There were other such violations of the CoA regulations.Both the IIA chapters moved the HC last month and obtained an injunction restraining the CBSE from conducting the exam scheduled for May 2004. This was something the ministry could not digest. Now by stripping the CoA of its powers, the stay could be lifted. But an IIA member says ‘We could have snapped ties with the AICTE as there is a provision for terminating the agreement by either of the parties. This does not hamper our functioning. We have powers to regulate architecture education’’.
