Two members of the Engineering Profession Board have filed a judicial protest against the board chairperson, accusing him of imposing himself on the board and excluding them during proceedings.
Samuel Bonanno and Brian Micallef filed the protest on Monday, after repeated calls to chairperson, Noel Camilleri, went unheeded.
The two engineers were among three elected to the board for a two-year term, following a record turnout vote in August.
In their judicial protest, the two said that their work on the board was to ensure that a high academic level was maintained among all candidates applying for an engineering warrant.
Yet Camilleri’s “attitude of exclusion,” towards them meant that all their requests were being refused and ignored.
They said that despite several formal requests for documents needed to scrutinise the academic levels of MCAST engineering courses, the paperwork had failed to materialize and as a result, reports by foreign consultants, minutes of previous board meetings and other related documents, were still not available.
Their request for a detailed introduction to the work undertaken by the board under its former composition had also been rejected.
No minutes had been discussed or approved since the newly-elected board’s first meeting on September 28, the two engineers said. Neither had any issue been subjected to a vote.
Focusing on the pre-warrant qualification course (PWQC), meant to address the deficiencies in past engineering courses at MCAST, the protesting parties pointed out that this course did not satisfy the academic requirements laid down under the guidelines published by the board.
Unless the matter was addressed, MCAST graduates were likely to face difficulties when venturing into industry or when seeking to further their studies at post graduate level.
The current situation called for immediate discussion at board level and subsequent consultation with all stakeholders, the protestors said.
But instead, the chairperson was “imposing himself” on the board, adopting an “attitude of exclusion” towards the elected members, acting beyond his powers “in an arbitrary and unprofessional manner to the detriment of the engineering profession.”
In the light of all this, the two engineers called upon him to immediately desist from such “irresponsible behaviour,” to allow access to the requested documents, to hold effective consultations and to declare all processes concerning MCAST engineering courses as null and void.
Faced with such “abusive and divisive” attitude, the parties formally declared that they were disassociating themselves, whilst calling upon the chairperson to desist and holding him solely responsible should their calls go unheeded.
The judicial protest, filed in the First Hall, Civil Court, was signed by lawyer Daniela Azzopardi Bonanno.