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Council of Architecture vs. The Academic Society of Architects (TASA) & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 181Decided 14 Feb 2022
Civil Appeal No. 1320 of 2022
Hemant Gupta · V. Ramasubramanian

Background

The Council of Architecture issued two communications in 2018 revising eligibility criteria and minimum standards for architectural education, without obtaining prior Central Government approval under Section 45 of the Architects Act, 1972 (a requirement that applies to "Regulations" framed under that section). The Academic Society of Architects (TASA), a society of teaching-faculty architects, challenged these communications before the Madras High Court, which quashed them for want of the mandatory Central Government approval. The Council appealed to the Supreme Court, also questioning whether TASA, representing teachers rather than the educational institutions actually addressed by the communications, even had standing to challenge them.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that Section 21 of the Act (empowering the Council to prescribe minimum standards of architectural education) does not, unlike Section 22 (professional conduct), require that such standards be prescribed only "by regulation", so the Council could validly issue minimum standards through means other than formal Regulations, and the Central Government approval requirement under Section 45(1) applies only when standards are issued as Regulations, not to ordinary communications. It further noted that the High Court had wrongly ignored the Council's objection to TASA's standing, since the impugned communications were addressed to educational institutions and only institutions, not individual teaching-faculty members, could properly be aggrieved by them. On both grounds, the Court set aside the High Court's order and dismissed TASA's writ petition, though it noted the dispute had since become largely academic after the Council's 2020 Regulations superseded the 2018 prescriptions.

Lesson Learnt

Not every rule-making power under a statute requires the same procedural formalities (such as government approval): the specific wording of the enabling section determines whether it must be exercised through formal regulations; and a party can challenge official action only if it has genuine standing, meaning the action is actually directed at and affects them, not merely a related group.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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