New Delhi: According to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry's technical bureau, doing a four-year engineering course from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) or for that matter, any private engineering college will not suffice as like the lawyers, chartered accountants, architects and others, the engineers too have to get themselves registered with the proposed Indian Council of Engineers (ICE).

The HRD ministry is mooting introducing the Engineers Bill, 2009, that requires obligatory registration/certification of professional engineers to streamline the quality of engineers in the country.

It is under the recommendation of the Bill that it intends to set up the ICE, which will maintain a national and international record of professional engineers and associate professional engineers and will standardize the engineering profession.

The Cabinet note saying 'regulating engineers will lead to public accountability and innovation in the profession' is being circulated for inter-ministerial consultation.

Such a regulation aims to standardize the Indian engineers globally and will create certified quality standards claims the Cabinet.

"There are many engineering colleges which fail to deliver a quality engineer from their institutions," says an official.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal said, "The Bill is the outcome of the plea of various engineering institutions who wanted to standardize the process of registration in the form of a regulation. They approached me with a demand to frame a mandatory law which should make the registration of engineers a compulsory affair."

Affirming to the plea of the association, the minister stands firm on his decision and says, "Since engineers are also involved in doing the public work, they should also be accountable for any accident."