Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Professional Civil Engineers Act-19, 2006, which was previously in force in Gujarat and is now considered irrelevant, has been repealed by the Legislative Assembly. In 2017, the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department implemented the Comprehensive General Development Control Regulation, 2017 (CGDCR-2017) to ensure uniformity in construction standards and permissions across the state. Consequently, it was decided to repeal the Gujarat Professional Civil Engineers Act-19, 2006, as it is no longer relevant, said Cooperation Minister Jagdish Vishwakarma in the Legislative Assembly.

The Minister noted that the 2001 earthquake caused a major natural disaster across the state, including in Kutch, leaving many people homeless and disrupting their lives. The state government observed that had the design and construction of houses been safer, the loss of human lives could have been minimized. To protect the public from unqualified individuals working as construction engineers and to regulate the registration and quality of professional civil engineers in Gujarat, the state government enacted the Gujarat Professional Civil Engineers Act-19, 2006.

Comparing past and current laws, the Minister explained that while the GPCE Act-19, 2006, only provided for registration, the CGDCR-2017 includes both registration and enforcement provisions. The GPCE Act-19 had just two categories for registration—Civil Engineering (General) and Civil Engineering (Structural Design)—whereas the CGDCR-2017 has seven branches of registration with 11 grades.

Furthermore, CGDCR-2017 has established a High-Rise Buildings Committee for structures taller than 45 meters, requiring a mandatory structural safety report through third-party inspection, a provision absent in the GPCE Act-19, 2006. Additionally, CGDCR-2017 includes comprehensive regulations for building construction procedures, planning, and performance standards.

Since the council registration system under the GPCE Act-19 did not align with CGDCR’s basic requirements, and it was impractical for the relevant department to enforce council registration across all categories and units, the Legislative Assembly unanimously repealed the GPCE Act-19 today.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

The Gujarat Professional Civil Engineers Act, 2006 was enacted in the year 2006 to provide for registration of Professional Civil Engineers in the State of Gujarat. The Comprehensive General Development Control Regulations, 2017 came in to force as a uniform regulation for building construction procedures, building planning and building performance which includes registration with competent authorities and responsibilities of professional engineers more comprehensively, through which the objective of the Gujarat Professional Civil Engineers Act, 2006 can be achieved more effectively hence, the said Act becomes redundant. It is, therefore, considered necessary to repeal the Gujarat Professional Civil Engineers Act, 2006. This Bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid object.

DeshGujarat