I have been teaching the subject of professional practice to
the students of architecture for quite some time now, and there have been
always questions about the ethical versus unethical practice, both from the
students and the fellow professionals. A major portion of my work came from the
Government & Semi-Government organisations as well as some corporate sector clients, and it is alleged that you have to use certain unethical means to work smoothly with such organisations.
My own experience is very
old now, having stopped working for such organisations for about twenty years
now, but I can vouch for the integrity of many persons of authority in the
organisations I worked for and can state with certainty that ethical practice
is not only possible but can be flourishing irrespective of whether it is a
public sector work or private sector. It all depends on your own character,
integrity, beliefs and intentions.
My practice started with Mr. Kharkar, a freedom fighter from
Sailu and man of integrity, and since then have met many politicians and
administrators who have been quite upright and honest, and in fact my practice
was built on the support of these people. In course of my practice I have
also met my share of the corrupt and unscrupulous people too, but I have always
been uneasy and out of my depth in dealing with them. I get similarly upset and
at a loss when people, particularly, building contractors and the like try to
do me some favour, though in the course of my practice I acquired a reputation for straight dealings and
was not troubled much in the later part of my career.
One instance I remember is about issuing false or incorrect
certificates. In the early eighties, cement was in short supply and was allowed
to be purchased only on a certificate of a practicing architect. I would
usually do this for free for my own clients for their need of cement, but once
I was requested to issue a dummy certificate by someone who was willing to pay
me for the certificate. He told me that the government officers don’t bother
about the correctness of the certificate and nobody keeps count so why bother?
‘You can cash in your qualifications and the fact that you are a practicing
architect, nobody would even read the certificate except for the figures where
you mention the number of bags of cement’, he told me. I had to tell him that
it was my reputation at stake for such a certificate, and I had to read the
certificate before signing it, so I would not do it. He was not pleased, and
must have taken me for a fool to lose out such easy money.
Exactly similar to this is the certificates Contractors
require to continue their registration with the government. As most of the projects
in the private sector are done without the tendering process, it is easy to
falsify the records and issue dummy certificates to contractors whom you may
have never met and earn some extra money on the side without doing much.
In all
my practice I have steadfastly refused to issue such certificates, and have
been called a fool, a simpleton and many other names. But I have since met many
of my own professional colleagues, touring all over the nation while working
for IIA, architects who are also scrupulous about this, and feel a certain
satisfaction in being part of the ethical brigade.
When I look back now on all these facts, I think I should
give credit for this to the people of integrity I met in my early career, who
shaped the character of my practice and behaviour. If I had not met people like
Mr. Kharkar, I do not whether I would have been able to maintain such a
straight path throughout my career.
No comments:
Post a Comment