A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will today hear the plea of CA aspirants seeking postponement of the ICAI CA July exams, scheduled to be held from 5 July. The bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Aniruddha Bose will hear the matter, listed under petition no. 43 for Tuesday.
Advocate and child rights activist Anubha Shrivastava Sahai will represent CA students seeking the top court’s direction on opt out scheme, extra attempt, vaccination and their preference of examination centre for the upcoming CA exams.
Yesterday, the bench had adjourned the hearing and asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to respond by Tuesday on suggestions made by petitioners in three separate writ petitions demanding moderation in the Standard Operating Procedures issued for the July-scheduled Chartered Accountancy Exams. The apex court asked ICAI to prepare its response on the suggestions made in the three separate petitions filed by advocate Anubha Shrivastava Sahai, Sathya Narayan Perumal, and by Amit Jain.
Earlier, on Monday the Institute told the Supreme Court that with Covid-19 cases are on the decline in the country and the present time is most conducive for examinations. Presenting a draft the Institute stated that over 374,000 students across 847 examination centres will be taking the exams.
Should Read: SC hearing on CA exams adjourned to Tomorrow; students have 3 demands
ICAI through advocate Pramod Dayal said, “As on date, the average number of new cases is around 48,000 and declining each day. As such, it is the most conducive time to hold the CA exams on the dates already announced by ICAI.
Expecting the third wave of Covid-19 infections predicted by September-October, the ICAI said, “Since Covid-19 is dynamic in nature, the ICAI has got this very narrow window to hold the exams in July 2021″.
Responding to the petitions seeking health safety, ICAI said, “That there is no reason to believe that a responsible Institute like the ICAI would not take all possible safety precautions for conduct of the examinations.
Further, it provided the details of how 374,230 candidates will be seated in 10,820 rooms across 847 centres and what safety measures will be adopted to tackle the risk of infection. It said that with average 12 candidates to be seated in a single room.
Earlier, in defence to its decision of holding exams in July, ICAI had said that majority of the students are in favour of exams. “As on date, about 282,000 candidates have downloaded their admit cards,” the Institute said before the Supreme court.
