- Constitution of a Board of professional engineers and consulting engineers as the nodal statutory body. Registration is to be a must for all practising engineers.
- An engineer will be registered as a professional engineer only if he or she has been practising for a minimum of seven years.
- Fresh graduates will be registered as engineers-in-training and will have to undergo seven years of practical training under a professional engineer.
- Both professionals and engineers-in-training registration seekers will have to clear written exams in engineering fundamentals and applied engineering respectively.
- A code of conduct will also be adopted.
- A firm seeking registration as consulting engineers must have all its partners or proprietors as registered professional engineers. For corporate bodies, three-fourth of the members should be professional engineers as also the chief executive.
- Registration will be valid for three years, renewable after paying a fee.
The Bill assumes significance since unlike other disciplines like medicine, architecture and law etc, that have statutory bodies, engineers are free to practice their profession without any monitoring. Currently, the All India Council for Technical Education (aicte) is the sole body whose role is confined to regulating and coordinating technical education in the country. "As a result, leave alone underqualified persons, even masons pass off as engineers and undertake projects," says R.K. Abrol, director, ceai.
Abrol admits that a large number of those practising as professional engineers are either unqualified or inexperienced. "The nature and quantity of work undertaken by such people is alarmingly serious and large and therefore it becomes all the more imperative to regulate, restrict and sift the entry into the profession and prevent any attempts to masquerade as professional qualified engineers," he says. "The best part of the Bill is that like architects, the consent of engineers involved in constructions will be sought for clearance of any structure. It'll make them equally accountable," says an office-bearer of the Institution of Engineers.
"This is standard practice in all developed and many developing nations." Clearly, India has a lot of catching up to do, and the Bill is a welcome step towards a more reliable and accountable profession.
