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.

APPREHENSIVE that BSP supremo Mayawati may drum up Muslim support with her tough action against Varun Gandhi, Samajwadi Party Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday tried to do a tightrope walk between condemning him and praising her.

Quiet over Varun’s alleged inflammatory speeches so far, he was vocal today. “The Uttar Pradesh Government move (to book Varun under the NSA) cannot be justified as he has not worked as a traitor. Whatever has happened in Pilibhit is the conspiracy of the BSP and the BJP. Otherwise why did the Government not arrest him earlier?” Mulayam asked.

The SP is well aware that by slapping the strict NSA on Varun, which could put him out of action for months, Mayawati is trying to send a message to the minority community that the BSP is their only saviour.

Mulayam said he had always opposed the NSA, including in Parliament, as it was used to harass opponents.

Mulayam’s stand signifi cantly has the backing of Ram Vilas Paswan, who recently announced a “secular front” with the SP. The Lok Janshakti Party leader dismissed the use of the NSA as “drama”, part of a “tacit” understanding between the BJP and BSP. “Now they (the state Government) are invoking the NSA after giving Gandhi a chance to project himself as a hero,” Paswan told PTI.

However, Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose RJD is also part of this front, backed the Mayawati Government move. “If possible, Varun should be booked under a harsher law,” Lalu told reporters at the Patna airport.

SUPPORT FOR MAYA ¦ Those who do “divisive politics with open eyes” should have the courage to face the law if they break it, the Congress said, justifying the use of the NSA. “Can there be more threat to public order?” it said. ¦ With Mayawati part of their Third Front, the CPI(M) said her government’s action had sent a very strong message that no hate speech would be tolerated. ¦ J&K CM Omar Abdullah called Mayawati’s move good. “It should teach that there is no room for hate speeches,” he said.