ICAI cites ‘operational problems’ to conduct CA exams

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is having second thoughts on conducting the May cycle of chartered accountants (CA) examination in 500 examination centres across the country beginning July 29.

Due to spike in COVID-19 cases, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is having second thoughts on conducting the May cycle of chartered accountants (CA) examination in 500 examination centres across the country beginning July 29.

The ICAI had last month allowed an “opt out” scheme enabling candidates who are unable to give the examination to appear in the November 2020 examination cycle. This scheme was challenged before the Supreme Court, which had asked the ICAI to be flexible in order to accommodate opt out requests till a week before commencement of examinations. Last week, the Court permitted the ICAI to come out with a draft notification spelling out that any student unable to give the complete set of exams would be entitled to a second chance in November, irrespective of whether they chose the “opt out” scheme.

On Thursday, ICAI informed the Court that the Institute was reassessing the feasibility of holding the examination in the wake of spike of COVID-19 cases across many states. Senior advocate Ramji Srinivas appearing for ICAI said, “There are some operational problems at certain centres where examinations are scheduled. We need time to contact examination centres in order to assess the ground situation.”

The Vacation Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna accepted the request and adjourned the matter for July 10.

Nearly 3.46 lakh students have registered to take the CA examinations. The ICAI informed the Court that less than 60,000 students had applied for ‘opt-out’ scheme and thus opposed the petition filed by one Anubha Shrivastava Sahai challenging the scheme. The ICAI was also not agreeable to petitioner’s demand for increasing the examination centres.

On the last date, the bench had observed, “The present situation is dynamic. You have to be flexible to change according to requirement of each area and concerns of students in that area.”