A young professional asks is nothing sacred any more? Three current cases and the role of a premier professional institute in respect of one are listed to raise the question what does a young professional do to stop this kind of un-professionalism spreading further. A question the profession can't not deal with.

Enaction and the Profession explores professional terrain 'To objectively assess where exactly things stand and why and, perhaps, also where they might stand and how. To carefully define the right questions and, perhaps, seek, posit and engage on some answers as well'.

Here, then, is a serious question and a dedicated space to explore it.

The three cases

• Institutional land allotment

  "The first is when the sensational petrol bunk scam was unearthed; there was in fine print in few papers a story about the doling out of institutional land to the saffron brigade and their political allies. But this story was not highlighted. I ask you, how many of you actually care if you purchase your petrol from a B.J.P. gas pump or not. Instead if all the institutional land in the city which is the capital is owned by communal organizations, isn't that more dangerous?"

  On Independence Day, Indian Express 'exposed' (on the heels of the Petrol Pump Scam that became this session's excuse for the Parliament to remain dysfunctional) how 'Bharatiya Janata's Property is prime pickings for Parivar'. Three days later Vir Sanghvi succinctly summarised in his column in Hindustan Times the defence of Petrol pumpers and land grabbers, 'shorn of all the pompous rhetoric', as "Everybody does it, yaar". Within a week DDA had put up on its website a validated list of institutional properties allotted by DDA (it had already put up an under-validation list two days after the Minister invited all to see it the day Express reported the scam). Later the numbers were crunched and the scale of the scam was estimated to be 500 hectares.

• Temple along the Yamuna

  "The second project, which I intend to talk about, is the Temple, which is Advani's Pet baby in the Yamuna's flood plain. If planned development is essential for a healthy environment then I guess that is the dream that the Master plan intends to bring about. But it is violated in such a way that a natural habitat of the river is desecrated to achieve a place of worship. To add to this, there is now a rapidly proliferating slum colony."

  On 6 February 2003 the Akshardham temple was inaugurated by Home Minister, accompanied by Gujrat Chief Minister. On 6 September 2002 Indian Express front page anchor Watch out for a temple complex along 50 acres of the Yamuna, sub-titled 'DDA changes master plan, allots land to Swaminarayan sect, L-G says it's landmark for north India', had said DDA has 'allotted 58 acres in the floodplains of the Yamuna river for a temple of the influential Swaminarayan sect. The allotment has been done in two phases. In the first, in September 1999, the DDA changed the master plan to show the land as 'public and semi-public' from its initial classification as 'agricultural and water body'. And allotted 30 acres at the institutional rate of Rs 77 lakh per acre. The DDA even built a bund along the river to prevent flooding. The master-plan was changed despite objections by the Delhi Urban Arts Commission way back in 1997 when the project was first referred to them. The commission clearly said that a change in land-use could adversely affect the ecology of the watershed and the underground acquifer. But the DDA went further. Although its amended master plan specifices that any socio-religious organisation can't get more than a maximum of 15 hectares (approximately 40 acres), the DDA in January this year allotted another 28 acres to the trust-ostensibly for a parking lot and an additional religious and temple complex...".

• Astha Kunj

  "The last conspiracy theory that was unveiled when the Prime Minster inaugurated the " garden of the souls" - the Aastha Kunj. This particular piece of land measuring about 200 acres is under the master plan a district park. Do you not think it is unconstitutional that now it now belongs to a particular religion?"

  Astha Kunj made news, mainly on account of massive traffic disruptions and shops and offices in the area having been shut down for security reasons, when the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone on 1st February. The PM called upon DDA to complete the 40 crores project in two and a half years instead of three and DDA vice-chairman promised that the new deadline will be met. Some details of Astha Kunj had came into public domain in August 2002, with a news report about projects proposed by DDA's landscape or horticulture department. The design competition was already done and the professional discourse, if any, on the changing of a secular district park to a spiritual garden was not made public. Following the news report of August 2002 a citizen did write to DDA chairman an open letter to raise certain issues about faith and space.

School of Planning and Architecture / Astha Kunj

"On the same project i would also like to comment on the unprofessional practice of an institution like S.P.A. where the Head of the Landscape Department won the above design competition and how convenient it was that the Jurors were the Director of the same institution along with the Head of the Regional Planning department"

In September 2002 a news report 'All green, no saffron: DDA park goes spiritual' quoted SPA professors and other professionals on Astha Kunj. 'A competition is being held to select the best entry for landscaping the park. Prof H.B. Singh, a participant and head of Regional Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, explained: "India is known outside as a country of spirituality. Somehow that component is not emphasised in the Capital. So they decided to have this in Astha Kunj." He then emphasised the significance of the Kalkaji temple. "Kalkaji is one of the 52 peeths. When Shiva did tandava, parts of Sati's body fell on 52 places on earth. Kalkaji was one of them. So it is significant to have such a park near the temple," he said. He insisted that the park wants to underline the traditional heritage of spiritualism. "It is not just Hinduism but spiritualism," he said. S.K. Yadav, of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission, who was on the jury for the landscape competition, is all praise for the park. "It will try to integrate the four temples which attract a lot of tourists. The park will focus on herbal plants, yoga and meditation with open air theatres for religious discourses,'' he said. He said that it will not have trouble getting the Delhi Urban Arts Commission's approval. According to Prof Ashish Maitra, director, School of Planning, who too was on the jury, said Astha Kunj is about peace and meditation. He insists it is secular. "There is no Hindu chauvinism." DDA commissioner planning Vijay Risbud said that the park is just being renamed. "There is no violation of planning norms. It was a district park. It will remain a park, though of a spiritual type," he said."

Metro Police station

What provoked the young professional's poser. A metro building built illegally on a site whose existing landuse as per law is river bed / green. A belated Public Notice brought out surreptitiously. A police station inauguration announced while responses to the Notice are yet to be heard. All this contempt of law and people happening under the noses, so to speak, of DDA, Delhi Government, Police, media, School of Planning and Architecture, Institute of Town Planners, all headquartered within 2 km of the site. Comment on that?