No Relief For CA Students As ICAI To Assess Feasibility Of Exams, SC To Hear Plea Again On July 10

ICAI Announcement: On June 29, the apex court had said ICAI should be flexible in conducting exams amid the Covid-19 pandemic and take care of candidates' concerns.

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ICAI CA Exam: For chartered accountancy students, it is still a wait and watch as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has now informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it would assess the feasibility of conducting CA exams, scheduled between July 29 and August 16. The decision of the Institute comes in the wake of a rising number of Covid-19 cases across the country where it said it will consult states and examination centres on this issue, according to the news agency PTI. The counsel from the Institute informed the bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that due to rising coronavirus cases some of the states have extended the restrictions. The counsel, also asked for time from the bench, comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, to review the ground situation and explore the feasibility of conducting the exams. This took place while the top court was hearing a plea which has challenged the 'opt out' option provided by the ICAI to the candidates alleging that it "arbitrarily" discriminates between the aspirants in the May cycle of CA examination. However, the court said it would hear the matter on July 10. On June 29, the apex court had observed that ICAI should be flexible in conducting exams amid the Covid-19 pandemic and take care of candidates' concerns. It had suggested that option for change in examination centre should be made available to the candidates till the last week before the scheduled exams as the area may become a containment zone due to the coronavirus situation. The apex court had said that ICAI should be flexible on the issues of 'opt out' and change of examination centre as the situation prevailing due to the pandemic was not static and continuously changing. Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, appearing for the petitioner, had earlier told the bench that number of examination centres should be increased and there should be one centre per district. The ICAI said it's tough to abide by this and told the court that over 500 examination centres have been identified and sanitized properly. It added that out of around 3,46,000 registered aspirants, only 53,000 have taken the 'opt out' option. The petitioner, president of India Wide Parents Association', has claimed in the plea that ICAI has stated that students, who have already submitted online examination applications for May examination cycle, shall be allowed to 'opt out' and carry forward their candidature to November 2020 examination cycle. Meanwhile, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has pushed back the registration date for the CA Foundation Course to 31 August. The decision has been taken in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, the last date for registration was 30 June.