Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will not pass any directions to postpone the Chartered Accountantcy (CA) examinations scheduled to commence in July and asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to mention under which circumstances an ‘opting out’ scheme can be granted to aspirants.
A Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar agreed to consider the plea for granting an ‘opt out’ for students who won’t be able to appear for the exam on account of COVID-19 restrictions.
“We are not stopping the exam. We are going to consider how opting out can be granted. In the midst of exams, out of five papers, if a student appears for three papers, he should be appearing in two papers only next time,” the Bench observed.
The Bench posted for tomorrow the hearing of the plea seeking directions for an “opt-out” option to candidates going to appear in the upcoming CA exams, for those willing to opt out before and during the exam.
Senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan appearing for the ICAI told the Court that “We had given opt out option to students who were down with COVID-19.”
The apex court asked the ICAI to give by tomorrow an elaborate note of assurance with details on standard operating protocols that shall be maintained in the examination halls.
Srinivasan said it is the most conducive time to hold the exams.
“We have given in this cycle an opt out scheme. We have suggestions which we will put to the institute. The opt out facility will be available to people who are affected by COVID in one form or the other,” said Srinivasan.
