In the Islamabad High Court, the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has challenged the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) notification on the status of graduate engineers and B.Tech graduates (IHC).
Barrister Raheel filed a writ petition on behalf of PEC, claiming that the HEC notification is unconstitutional. The HEC notification must be declared null and void, according to the petition.
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HEC has also issued an unconstitutional notification declaring BSc Engineering and B.Tech comparable, according to the petitioner. He went on to say that the problem of equivalency had been addressed years ago, but that HEC had sent a notification in violation of the law on December 8, 2021. The PEC delegates expressed reservations about the HEC equivalency committee meeting, but their objections were not recorded in the minutes.
The petition claims that HEC’s notification has produced a great deal of misunderstanding among engineers and other stakeholders. It claims that the HEC notification is in violation of the PEC Act and goes against the Supreme Court’s decision.
Barrister Raheel argued in his application that non-engineers, including technologists, were not allowed to undertake any engineering job or hold the position of engineer under the PEC Act 1976.
He went on to say that engineering and technology are two independent branches of the engineering profession that cannot be compared. He noted that government institutions had begun accepting B.Tech degree holders’ applications for engineer positions as a result of the HEC notification. If B-Tech technologists are allowed to work in engineering positions, there will be very little room for engineers, who are currently unemployed in significant numbers, he claims.
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On December 8, 2021, the HEC published a notification saying that bachelor’s degrees in engineering (16 years of study) are comparable to bachelor’s degrees in analogous technology (16 years of education).
The announcement was made by HEC following the decision of its accreditation and equivalence committee’s 10th meeting. The committee authorised this amendment after much consideration, according to HEC, and the PEC representative was present at the meeting.