CA exams scheduled for July pushed to November, ICAI informs SC

The ICAI informed the Supreme Court that the May cycle of the CA examination, scheduled for July, stands cancelled and will instead be merged with the November cycle. The apex court was hearing a plea which had challenged the 'opt out' option provided by ICAI.

New Delhi:The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Monday informed the Supreme Court that the May cycle of CA examination, scheduled between July 29 and August 16, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The counsel appearing for ICAI told a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that now the May cycle examination will be merged with the November 2020 cycle of the CA exam.

The court was hearing a petition challenging the ICAI's notification on CA exams which had allowed candidates to opt out from appearing within a stipulated time in view of COVID-19.

It had also sought extra preventive measures and increasing the examination centres as it would be difficult for the students to travel owing to the prevailing situation.

The bench, after hearing the submissions advanced by ICAI's counsel, disposed of the matter.

Earlier on June 29, the apex court had said that ICAI should be flexible in conducting exams amid the pandemic and take care of concern of candidates.

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It had suggested that option for change in examination centre should be made available to the aspirants till the last week before the scheduled exams.

It had observed that situation is not static and continuously changing and the ICAI should be flexible on the issues of 'opt out' and change of examination centre.

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The ICAI's counsel had earlier told the court that out of around 3,46,000 registered aspirants, nearly 53,000 have taken the 'opt out' option.

The plea filed in the apex court had alleged that ICAI had made an important announcement on June 15 by which it "arbitrarily decided to discriminate" between the aspirants by providing an option of 'opt out'.

(With inputs from agencies)