The Supreme Court today made it clear that it will not postpone the Chartered Accountant (CA) exams 2021 scheduled to be held in July 2021, but agreed to consider a plea by students seeking an “opt out” option for those who won’t be able to appear on account of Covid-19 restrictions.
The Counsel appearing for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) submitted before the bench that students appearing for the examination will be given an opportunity if they face difficulties due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose took up the three pleas seeking postponement of CA exams 2021. While sharing his experience of fighting Covid-19 virus, Justice Khanwilkar observed that the recovery from coronavirus is completely up to one’s body. He said, “My after-effects lasted for 3 weeks and even after 3 weeks, I was not able to work or go back to my normal routine.” Further he suggested the counsel appearing of behalf of ICAI that the matter concerned can be genuine for the CA aspirants.
Senior Advocate Ramji Srinivasan, who appeared for the ICAI, submitted that he will prepare a brief note on the stand of ICAI after today’s submissions made by the respective counsels in regard with guidelines to be proposed for the conduct of CA examination.
The Supreme Court asked ICAI to appoint necessary authority who is competent to issue certificate explaining why Covid-19 positive candidates cannot appear for the upcoming CA exam.
Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora, who was appearing for CA candidates in one of the petitions, submitted that the major issues faced by the candidates was amid Covid-19. First, there is a whole new syllabus for CA exam now and it is very difficult for students to adopt and prepare for the exam in this pandemic, not to mention of aspirants who have been infected.
Replying to her, the Apex Court said, “Another chance will be given to such students. These students had 7 years to appear for old syllabus exam, though we will give the benefit but limited to those who are affected by Covid-19 directly or indirectly.”
Secondly, Meenakshi Arora submitted that the candidates, who want to appear in the exam, are not willing to compromise their security as the examination centre chosen had been used for marriages and other events. The bench observed that, “RT-PCR positive report may be very difficult to get. Persons who recover may have long term problems and thus unable to appear in exams. General policy may be adopted where an authorised agency can certify that he is not able to appear in exam.”
Thirdly, Adv. Meenakshi Arora proposed that it should be mandatory for each and every person to carry their RT-PCR test including the invigilator, to which the court replied that, “these are basic precautionary procedure which will definitely be adopted by each and every person.” Further the bench proposed that, instead of RT-PCR test, a candidate can take a valid certificate from the competent authority appointed by the ICAI. As, even if a person is positive the test comes out to be negative. “Evolve a policy that one can certify why one could not appear,” said the Court to the ICAI.
Fourthly, she highlighted that the aspirants who are willing to give the exam but the centres created are far off and they cannot travel. She sough an opportunity to choose convenient option for opting for another centre whichever is suitable to them as per travelling area. Fifthly, waiving articleship requirement because the aspirants have been irregular, as due to Covid-19, many could not complete the duration, which was turned down by the bench.
The Supreme Court stated that, “The scope should be broadened in terms of considering the Covid-19 infected candidates.”
The bench was considering the petitions Sathya Narayan Perumal vs Union of India (in which Sr Av Arora was appeared), Anubha Shrivastava Sahai vs Union of India and Amit Jain Vs. Union of India (in which Adv. Bansuri Swaraj appeared)
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This petition was filed by 987 aspirants from 20 States and three Union Territories (UTs) through Advocate Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, the petition urged the Supreme Court to set aside the notification of ICAI dated June 5, 2021 through which the ICAI has issued the date sheet of CA Examination, scheduled to be held in the month of May 2021.
Adv Shashi Bhushan P Angolekar appearing for the petitioners sought before the court that candidates giving CA exam should be vaccinated on priority basis for their protection, which was not entertained by the bench by stating “we cannot hamper the vaccination policies given by Government.”