Leading architect Hafeez Contractor has decided to petition the Bombay High Court against a recent order passed by the Council of Architecture, barring him from practice for a year. 

Acting on a complaint filed by a Delhi-based architect, Sudhir Vohra, the Council of Architecture issued orders that Contractor must surrender his certificate of registration issued by the council and should not practice for the next one year. The council is the statutory body constituted by Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Architects Act,1972. 

Vohra had said that a Hewlett-Packard advertisement campaign splashed in newspapers featured Contractor with comments on his work as an architect. He said the ad was an infringement of the Architects (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 1989, which does not allow an architect to advertise his services. 

Contractor, whose landmark designs include the Leela Palace Udaipur Hotel, the waterfront development 23 Marina at Dubai and Hiranandani Gardens at Powai in Mumbai, was in 2002 hauled up by the council in a similar case. Back then, he had featured in a Cera Sanitaryware ad which termed him as a “world renowned architect”. He was let off after he contended that the ad was not about his architectural work. 

“This complaint is as baseless as the previous one,” said Contractor, adding that neither of the two ads were issued by him.