CA Exam 2020: Supreme Court suggests guideline changes, asks ICAI to be 'more flexible'

In what could bring big relief to the CA candidates, the Supreme Court on Monday suggested to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to give some benefit of the doubt to the students and allow them to appear for the scheduled exams in November even if they haven't officially opted out before the deadline.

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea challenging the opt-out option for the CA exams scheduled between July 29 and August 16 in light of the COVID pandemic.

'The situation is not static'

The Supreme Court further told ICAI that an option to change the examination centre should be made available to all students, at least till the last week before the exam. "The situation is not static, it's dynamic. You have to change according to the change in the situation," said the Supreme Court.

The counsel for ICAI told the Supreme Court that although the institute could consider allowing a student to appear for the exam in November, allowing a change in the Centre was not feasible. "We have identified 567 centres across the country which have been sanitised and prepared for the examinations in line with the requirements," the ICAI Counsel told the Supreme Court.

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Further, ICAI also said that there was an SOP in place to shift a centre in case it falls in a containment zone. ICAI also told the Supreme Court that out of 3 lakh 46 thousand students who had registered for the exam, only 53,000 students had opted out to take the exam in November.

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The Supreme Court had earlier expressed its intention to ensure that there was no prejudice caused to anybody in time of the pandemic, due to the notification issued by the Institute.

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The ICAI has been asked to issue a fresh guideline for its students including the suggestions given by the Supreme Court bench on the issue on Monday. The draft notification has to be filed before the Supreme Court before the next date of hearing on July 2.

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