Case No. 65 of 2015. Case: Graduates Association of Civil Engineers Vs The Principal Secretary, Local Self-Government and Ors.. Competition Commision of India
| Case Number | Case No. 65 of 2015 |
| Judges | Ashok Chawla, Chairperson, S.L. Bunker, Sudhir Mital, Augustine Peter, U.C. Nahta, M.S. Sahoo and G.P. Mittal, Members |
| Issue | Competition Act, 2002 - Sections 19(1)(a), 26(2), 3, 4 |
| Judgement Date | September 09, 2015 |
| Court | Competition Commision of India |
Order:
Order under Section 26(2) of the Competition Act, 2002
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The present information has been filed by Graduates Association of Civil Engineers (hereinafter referred to as the "Informant") under section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") against Local Self-government, Kerala through its Principal Secretary (OP 1), the Chief Town Planner, Kerala (OP 2) and the Chief Secretary, Kerala State Secretariat (OP 3) alleging, inter alia, contravention of the provisions of sections 3 and 4 of the Act.
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It is stated in the information that OP1 had brought Kerala Panchayat Buildings Rules, 2011 (KPBR 2011) on 14.02.2011 to regulate the construction work in all village panchayats in the State. In terms of Rule 115 of KPBR 2011, which deals with the structural design, the drawings and structural stability certificate was allowed to be issued by the registered engineers who possess post graduate degree in Structural Engineering and government college teachers. The Informant has submitted that the registered graduate engineers have been empowered under the Rules to prepare and sign the structural design connected with all types of building. It is alleged that the said Rule 115 prohibits the practice of issuance of stability certificate for high rise buildings by registered graduate engineers. It is further alleged that the said Rule limits the competition and denies the market access to the graduate registered engineers.
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The Informant has submitted that as per Kerala Municipality Building Rules, 1999 (KMBR 1999), the graduates amongst the registered engineers were also allowed to issue stability design of high rise building in the state. The Informant has further pointed out that the National Building Code of India, 2005 (NBC), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) guidelines, Building Regulations in Mumbai, Guwahati etc. have given power to the registered graduate engineers to practice structural design of high rise buildings.
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It is averred that the members of the Expert Committee who drafted KPBR 2011 were professors/lecturers of government engineering colleges and officials and were very less in number and the same was drafted and enforced without calling for any comments from the stake holders or public.
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The Informant has further submitted that OP 1 has proposed to introduce similar Rule in KMBR 1999 also, which will restrict the power of graduate registered engineers to issue stability...
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