PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
COUNCIL OF ARCHITECTURE ​(COA)
Introduction
The Council of Architecture (COA) has been constituted by the Government of India under the
provisions of the Architects Act, 1972, which is enacted by the Parliament of India, which came into
force on 1st September, 1972. ​This Act provides for registration for Architects, standards in the
education, and recognized qualifications. The Council of Architecture is incharge of the
responsibility to regulate the education and practice of profession throughout India and also
maintain the register of architects. For this purpose, the Government of India has framed
Rules and Council of Architecture has framed Regulations as provided for in the Architects
Act, with the approval of Government of India.
Overview
Any person carrying onto the profession of​ ​architect must have registered himself with the Council
of Architecture.The practice of profession of an architect is governed by the Architects (Professional
Conduct) Regulations, 1989 (as amended in 2003), which deals with professional ethics , conditions
of scale, architectural competition guidelines etc.It is more often asked by the Architects why the
legal action taken against architects whenever buildings or any other built form collapses of which
they are the architects, without inquiring their faults and circumstances leading to the collapse.
The Architect act, 1972
The main purpose of the architects act 1972 is to provide for the registration of architects and for
the matters that are connected. It has already come into force and spread to the whole India. It
contains 45 sections with one schedule. Where a person is prohibited from using the title and style
of the architect unless he/she is registered to the council of architecture under section 37, this
prohibition does not affect the designations. The term of council is for a period of over 3 years from
the date of election of member or the nomination until the successor ,and it can also be duly elected
or nominated later. According to the finance, stability, economic conditions there are functions and
sections that can support the necessities.
Rules-1973
​The powers overtaken by section 44 of the Architects act, 1972 the central government makes few
rules which has to be followed according to the considerations and antiquities. The powers and
duties of the council were in the hands of president and vice president, and also appointing people
for many factors to incorporate the rules, regulations and an adequate syllabus to the universities.
According to the university that particular syllabus is given where the number of years having
courses in that university also matters,so accordingly the function is given. The courses and the
periods of the study and of the practical training is given to undertake the subjects and
examinations to provide the standards in any college or institution in terms of gaining the
qualification.
REGULATIONS 1982:
​ ​This act is about the regulations of the Council of Architecture. This actis based on the definition of
the terms involved in the council such as the President, secretary, Vice President, Members, staff,
section, etc. It is also based on amendments/ motions discussed by the quorum with the presiding
officer to add any motion/amendments or appropriate changes in the amendment.The acts of the
council (amendment / motion) are decided by majority of members and by voting. A motion/
amendment may not be admissible if it is not within the scope of function, or if it's a false statement.
A stated motion may be discussed or resolved either affirmative or negative by any of the members.
Presiding member of the meeting decides the motion that has to be moved or withdrawn while
stating the reason for withdrawing the motion/amendment. And the end of the result will be
announced by the Presiding member. Sometimes adjournment of meetings might take place by the
decision of the presiding officer and commence may be an hour or few dates later when quorum is
present for the meeting. Final order of points decided in the meeting is done by the presiding officer
and is recorded and received signature from the President to be carried forward in the Council. It
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also specifies the power and duties of the president and vice president. If the president is not
available, the vice president takes over his duties. It also specifies the meeting of the members in the
Executive committee under the lead of Chairman and Vice Chairman and these members are
responsible for resolution and decision of the council. It also specifies the members selected from
the council to conduct business of committee inorder to resolve business considerations under the
lead of the President and Vice president. It specifies the role of the Registrar who register the
architects, renew their names/ remove the names due to non-payment of renewal fees, the
administrative office who assist the registrar in his absence, and also the service condition of
employees, and all of these members retire at the age of 60. It specifies the Finances and the
accounts in the council and its details taken care by the registrar and the audit of annual accounts
audited by the Auditor and submit the copy of it to the Central Government. It specifies the
inspection of the educational institution in terms of examination, training programme, educational
standard, etc by the inspector and sends the report of the inspection to the executive committee
and gives the institution a report to furnish in terms of resolution regarding education.
COA (Minimum standards of Architectural education) Regulations 1983
Duration and the stages of the course mainly talks about the basic information that every student
and teacher who belong to architecture should know, which is a sector that tells about the eligibility,
qualification according to the examinations, and the number of years in the course with the live tour
and learning and also talks about the criteria of the admission for a student to move into this course
with the level of understanding and capability that is supported which includes the intake of each
student, accommodation and the training of teachers technically as well as non technically qualified.
Architects (Professional conduct) Regulations 1989:
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​ rchitects in terms of all aspects, either by professional practice or employment should follow the
rules which is the general responsibility of an architect in contributing future welfare of the society .
The architect should inform the client about the condition of engagement and charges on basis of
the appointment with the client without any discount/commision. The architect should be fair
enough, honest, true with no partiality in his work. The architect cannot obtain the work that is being
done by another architect, unless the work is terminated and after getting an agreement and
approval from the previous architect who worked on the project with the client.He should not
advertise his name/professional service expect in few cases.(eg: his name in brochure prepared by
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the client for advertising and promoting). The Architect should work according to the code
requirements based on whichever country he is working .
CONCLUSION
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Finding new work and sustaining an income.
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Bridging the generation gap.
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Fights with the stereotypes and handling the politics
From these acts , rules, and regulations given by the Council of Architecture, the role of the
members in the council, the role of the architect in dealing with the client, how the council
members should put forward their points based on the amendments/motions and how to
discuss with the quorum about the points that are relevant and adding that relevant point
under the acts are few things that are learnt from these acts given. In this, the members
playing an important role should be fair enough, honest and true and follow the rules and
regulations given under this. If the rule from here is not followed by the member, it will be
considered illegal or a malpractice.
Are architects receiving the licence or not ? How does it support this debatable question ,and
also talking about the number of years taken in this course, is it necessary or can it be
reduced to 3 years ? How can it be supportive and helpful? Change in terms of politics and
issues that is depriving each person and in this profession brings down the mental state of a
person ,will there be a change or not?
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