17th of march, a not so normal day, signifying the beginning of the lockdown all across the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, already a chaotic situation and then comes the headline which terrified the architectural fraternity saying, “No bar on architecture work for not being qualified and registered under the law- Supreme Court”.
According to the Supreme Court, a person does not require any professional degree or any registration to work as an architect and its cognate activities, unlike other professions like doctors, lawyers who need to get registered under their respective laws of practice. The bench of justices, D Y Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi JJ Section 37 of the Architects Act 1972 states that the profession of architecture involves a wide reach of affairs including designing, constructing, creating, supervising, and many more and a person cannot be turned down due to his/ her failure to get registered with Council of Architecture (the regulatory body of the profession in India). The court corresponded with the attorney general KK Venugopal’s submission which stated that the Architects Act does not contain any prohibition on the practice of architecture and its subsequent activities, supervising or construction of buildings by individuals not registered with the Council. The court dismissed the plea of the Council which contended that the law was framed to ensure that only qualified architects are permitted to provide architectural services. As a result of which an individual irrespective of him/her being registered or not will be allowed to work as an architect.
This kept all the architects and especially the architecture students, awestruck. What is this? How can this even be thought of? So why are we pursuing this five-year architectural bachelor’s course which is already known as one of the difficult courses to pursue? All of this ought to be the instant reaction of any student, but after it has been thought over for ample each thought concludes to – why should this bother me or any of us? Yes! You read it right. Why should this affect any of us? Ask yourself these questions – Why am I pursuing a degree in architecture? Why did I want to invest five crucial years of my life in architecture? Even though I find this a bit difficult yet here I am insisting on getting myself named as an architect. Why so? All of these questions are the answer to what I said earlier.
We, as students are here pursuing a degree in architecture to imbibe knowledge, to be trained by the professionals. We are here to gain what is considered necessary to be known by an architect for him/her to work and create wonders out here in the world. We are here to study architecture. The architecture itself is complex and vast, it is primarily important for the architects to know how and what exactly is it to design, to know how to go about it.
Besides all of this, what makes an ideal architect? It requires nothing but your will to believe in your skill to make an everlasting impact on the world through your design. The greatest achievement in life is to learn how not to get affected by unnecessary stuff happening around and just focus on how you can help in the betterment of the world. If the supreme court has to say that one doesn’t need to be qualified or registered to work as an architect, better so. We are here getting qualified and subsequently will be registered architects and then there will be a set of people who with their choice and permission of the Supreme Court will not opt for this and that’s completely fine! Yes, it is! What matters is what you do to make yourself stand out of the crowd.
So why waste energy and time on things that barely matter to you? Instead, why not focus on the betterment of oneself?
We have a long way to go, a lot to learn, a lot to teach, a lot to create, a lot to design. We have a huge task laid in front of us; we are the creators, the designers, the flag bearers of the society. Only a handful of people will let this decision bother them.
So to end this up, from the perspective I am looking at this, should we get bothered by the judgment passed? I would answer- no I wouldn’t let it bother me. I would suggest you to not let it bother you too. John Green has rightly said, “This world is not a wish-granting factory, my friend.” No power in the world can stop you, me from accomplishing our goals as architects, so why just give this thought even a minute amount of space in our minds? We, architects, are bound to create miracles and we have this opportunity to do so in this lifetime, thus let us concentrate all our energy in designing and creating and impacting souls.
