Architecture college faces council's ire

College insiders say Council of Architecture director misusing position for reasons of personal vendetta

Theu00a0Marathwada Mitra Mandal College of Architecture (MMCoA) is having a tough time with the Council of Architecture (CoA), in particular its director. What seems to be a simple disagreement between a professional organisation and an educational institute threatens to turn out to be a murky fight where the fate of thousands of students is on tenterhooks.


Marathwada Mitra Mandal College

Vijay Sohoni, director of CoA, has been at loggerheads with the MMCoA Pune and is allegedly acting against it through orders ranging from 'de-recognition' to reduction in student intake. The MMCoA claims the CoA has no right to take any action or decision regarding student intake; the authority to take such a decision lies with the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) and the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

Sohoni has apparently been using an earlier high court order as a precedent (see box) and acting against colleges, which the CoA is unauthorised to do. Apart from MMCoA, other colleges in Nashik and Kolhapur and Mumbai too have been facing similar problems. Some of these colleges are where Sohoni has either been rejected the principal's post or had conflicts with the managements. The Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) also conducted a surprise search on Sohoni's Panaji-based Institute of Design Environment and Architecture (IDEA) on August 8.

According to MMCoA officials, apart from passing orders where he has no authority, Sohoni has been scaring students' parents that MMCoA's degree certificate will not get their wards registered with the CoA. However, college authorities call this ridiculous and in contravention with the Parliament's Architect's Act. "The act clearly states that a degree from a recognised university or a college affiliated to such a university is entitled for registration with the CoA. We are officially affiliated with the University of Pune (UoP) in accordance with the Act," said an MMCoA official, requesting anonymity.

The official added that Sohoni first threatened the management to remove the then ad hoc principal PN Gayaval or face de-recognition. "He also reduced the student intake of the college in 2006, which later went to Bombay High Court but the case didn't reach final hearing before the admission process started and we forced an intake of 30 students, against the 40 awarded by AICTE," said Principal in-charge Milind Chitale.

A similar notice from CoA directing '0' intake was sent next year citing the college's underperformance.
"However, the State Government became aware of his malafide intentions and passed a Government Resolution directing admissions to be done in the five colleges in accordance with AICTE rules," Chitale said. Also, after getting sanctioned the intake of 60 from the UoP, AICTE and the DTE this year, the CoA has officially recommended the state government and the Centre to de-recognise the college.u00a0u00a0u00a0

MMCoA is not the only college facing Sohoni's wrath. During his tenure as the Principal In-Charge of the Nashik District Maratha Vidya Prasarak (NDMVP) College of Architecture, he reduced the college's intake to '0' when the management questioned continual absence from college activities. He had earlier got approved an increased intake of 80 before the showdown with the NDMVP management.u00a0 When contacted and pointed out the issues raised by the colleges, Sohoni said the allegations should be judged impartially.

"The colleges may allege anything it wants. I can't comment about their complaints with me," he said.
Asked about the CoA's recommendation to de-recognise MMCoA, he said it was the Executive Committee's decision and not his own. Questioned about the CBI raid on the IDEA Goa campus, he refused to comment.
"You can talk to the CBI and not me," he said.

In court
According to an earlier MoU between CoA and AICTE, CoA will inspect the college and AICTE will approve student intake. Accordingly, Kolhapur's Prince Shivaji College of Architecture's intake was reduced, an action that was later upheld by the Bombay High Court when the matter went to court. Eighteen to 20 other such cases are pending in the Supreme Court.

The court had, however, clearly observed that the Architect's Act was supreme and both the CoA and AICTE function within its provisions. Also, during his tenure with NDMVP, he had applied for the principal's post at Mumbai's JJ College of Architecture without informing the NDMVP management. He has also allegedly forced the then principal Y D Pitkar to attest his documents without verifying the originals. Pitkar had alleged this in the criminal case lodged by him against Sohoni.