The Madras High Court on Friday upheld a G.O. of the Home (Cinemas-A) Department of January 1991 which gave powers to engineers of the PWD alone to issue structural soundness certificates for cinema houses.
Originally, PWD engineers alone were authorised to issue the certificates till 1985. For five years, private engineers (panel engineers) were also empowered to issue the certificates. Noticing the indiscriminate issue of the certificates by panel engineers which was noticed by PWD Executive Engineers, the government, based on a report by the Revisional Authority under the Tamil Nadu Cinemas (Regulation) Act, thought it fit to restore the original position.
This was because empowering two authorities to issue the certificates created an anomalous situation and public safety became a casualty. The government took a policy decision to restore the original position, viz., empowering PWD engineers alone to issue the certificates for cinema houses.
The G.O. of January 7, 1991 was challenged by some engineering graduates, whose names were included in the panel of engineers. A single Judge allowed the petitions.
Challenging this, the State government filed the present appeals in 2002.
In the common judgment, a Division Bench comprising Justices N.Paul Vasanthakumar and M.M.Sundresh said the engineers’ grievance was that they were divested of the power to issue the certificate. The said empowerment had been granted only for five years. The government after noticing the misuse of such empowerment by some panel engineers had taken a conscious decision to promote public safety.
