The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that it will not pass any directions to postpone the Chartered Accountant examinations 2021 that is scheduled to commence in July. The Court, however, agreed to consider the plea for granting opt out for students who won’t be able to appear for the exam on account of COVID-19 restrictions.
Earlier the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India which is mandated to conduct the exams, informed the Court that students appearing for the examinations will be given another opportunity, if they face difficulties in appearing due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Students who were down with COVID-19 will be given the choice to opt out. The students had 7 years to appear for the exam based on the old syllabus. ICAI will give the benefit but it will be limited to who are directly or indirectly affected by Covid. The results will be declared as soon as possible said the lawyer appearing for the institute.
A Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose had asked ICAI to come up with a policy explaining how and where health authority can issue a certificate explaining why a COVID-19 positive student cannot appear for the upcoming CA examinations.
The Court is expected to pass order on this subject when the matter is considered again tomorrow.
Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora appearing for the student petitioners explained the difficulty in obtaining RT-PCR positive test reports for students who cannot give the exams on account of COVID-19.
The judges suggested that the institute can take certificates as a valid certificate in place of RT-PCR test so that the candidate can take the next exam. Since this is last chance in old syllabus, students need a lot of time and effort to prepare for the exam.
The Court asked for and got an assurance from ICAI had that COVID-19 protocol would be followed in the exam halls.
Students had alleged that those who have raised voices against ICAI had results withheld. The judges asked for a formal application be filed, and they will word the order better than the High Court.
Advocate Arora mentioned that last year ICAI had allowed students who missed exams to take only the pending papers, instead of taking all exams again. The Supreme Court agreed that this could work this time as well.
ICAI was asked to file details of all points discussed in the court today and it will be looked at by the judges tomorrow.
