Even as cases against consultants in connection with accidents at construction sites are on the rise, Minister of State for Urban Development Ranjeet Patil said on Monday that consultants won’t be targetted unfairly. His comments came during a meeting with various professionals’ associations at Mantralaya, where MLA Medha Kulkarni was also present.

Earlier, the matter was taken up by the associations and a request to handle the cases with parity was forwarded to the chief minister on August 2. Kulkarni, along with city engineer of Pune Municipal Corporation Prashant Waghmare and deputy city engineer of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation Aayub Khan Pathan, was present for the meeting along with representatives of Indian Institute of Architects; Architects’, Engineers’ and Surveyors’ Association; Pune Architectural Consultants’ Association; Indian Society of Structural Engineers and Creative Forum.

The associations put forth their view on cases filed against consultants regarding accidents at construction sites, along with various documents such as Supreme Court judgements; the Architects’ Act, 1972; the Model Building Bye Laws, 2016; and also certain clauses in the Indian Penal Code.

The associations requested the minister to look into the matter and bring some parity in the process of filing cases against their fellow professionals on the basis of the Supreme court judgment. They also requested the minister to formulate a system by which the rights and responsibilities of every stakeholder in the construction industry are defined and implemented on the basis of the Architects’ Act and Model Building Bye Laws already sanctioned by the Government of India.