SC refuses plea seeking postponement of CA exams scheduled in May

The Supreme Court on Monday, 29 April refused to entertain a plea seeking postponement of certain papers of the Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams scheduled for May on account of the Lok Sabha polls.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has not fixed the examination on election dates.

It noted that the general elections to the Lok Sabha are to be held on 7 and 13 May and no exam has been scheduled for 6 May and 12 May.

Altering the examination date would disrupt the extensive arrangements already in place for the conduct of the examination and it could result in “grave injustice for some students”, it said.

The scheduling of exams pertains to “policy decisions”, it said while refusing to entertain the PIL.

“But weighing the importance of the right to vote we have examined the position of candidates who shall be appearing for exams and would also need to vote. 591 centres are there and no exams on polling dates. At this stage when 4 lakh plus students have enrolled, any relief at this stage would result in grave prejudice,” the CJI said.

The Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams are scheduled to start from 2 May and continue till 17 May.

The plea sought that the exams scheduled for 8 and 14 May be postponed to other dates as elections are going to be held in some states on 7 and 13 May.

The Delhi High Court, on 8 April, has refused to postpone the CA exams while dealing with another plea.

The high court had said it was surprised that such a request was made before it and termed the petition as "bereft of substance".

The counsel representing the ICAI had submitted that rescheduling the exam in the second week of June would throw the exercise into disarray and added that due care has been taken to ensure that no exams are scheduled on the dates when polling will be held.