On Tuesday 29th June the Supreme Court clarified that it is not in favor of postponing the 2021 Chartered Accountant (CA) examination scheduled to commence on 5th July. It has also stated that no directions will be passed with regard to the postponement. Earlier most of the competitive exams were either postponed or cancelled considering the health and safety of the students during the pandemic. Since now there is a fall in the number of fresh covid cases , the government is making necessary decisions related to education.
The students with COVID should get the opt-out option, a bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar mentioned . The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) was directed by the bench with justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose to present a note including the Court’s suggestions along with other deliberations and ICAI’s standards.
As per the report the bench has agreed for the commencement of CA examination on 5th July, the ICAI has been informed to consider the suggestions about permitting the candidates to choose a center as per their convenience. the ICAI Counsel mentioned in its submission to the bench that, incase of any barriers faced by the candidates due to Covid constraint, they would get another opportunity to appear in the exam. The Students suffering from COVID can obtain a certificate from the chief medical officer.
However, the Supreme Court has asked ICAI to form a policy where a competent authority can issue a certificate stating why a COVID positive student could not attend the scheduled CA examination. Meenakshi Arora who is a senior advocate has suggested ICAI to examine the problems related to containment zones where the students may find it difficult to take the RT-PCR test.
A suggestion was added by the bench, to adopt general policy where the authorized agency can certify that he/she is unable to appear for exams. This was suggested because even after the recovery from corona virus infection, people face long term health issues.
