An engineering union has vowed to proceed with lawsuits against the profession’s official body, undeterred by a deal ensuring MCAST engineering graduates can obtain their warrant.
The Malta Association of Professional Engineers said on Tuesday that the deal for MCAST students, which will allow them to obtain a warrant once they pass a qualification course, was “hasty and unprecedented” and could only harm the profession.
The qualification course has been approved by the engineering profession board after it was assessed by German engineering standards consultancy ASIIN, which had been commissioned by the government to recommend changes to the MCAST course.
Conflict over the MCAST course reached the law courts last year and the legal saga shows no sign of subsiding.
Indeed on Monday, MAPE filed a lawsuit for damages against the engineering profession board, its chairperson and six individual members, claiming that in spite of eight different legal actions and several months down the line, the chairperson still refused to consult the union.
By “arbitrarily” choosing to meet whoever he pleased, to the exclusion of the union, the chairperson was “blatantly” breaching the proportionality test directive, it said.
That EU directive, implemented under Maltese law, called for proportionality testing before any new regulations on professionals- not only engineers- and prior consultation with all stakeholders, were introduced.
In a decision upholding a warrant of prohibitory injunction in favour of MAPE, Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale, had referred to this obligation of the board and its chairperson, sensing a clear lack of “harmony” within the board itself.
On that occasion, three elected board members had backed the call for the injunction which had effectively stalled proposed amendments to the engineering profession law.
Yet, in spite of that court decision, the board had pushed on.
The board's approval was greenlighted by another court, presided by Judge Toni Abela, who lifted another injunction. That injunction had been sought by MAPE to block approval of MCAST courses.
In its latest legal application, MAPE called on the court to declare a breach by the engineering board of the proportionality test laws and to uphold and liquidate its claim for damages.
Lawyer Michael Tanti-Dougall signed the application, while Tuesday’s press release was signed by MAPE President Arthur Ciantar.