India's highest court, the Supreme Court is allegedly hearing a group of Chartered Accountant (CA) students' plea for a postponement of their exam.
Reetu | Apr 18, 2024 |
CA Students Exam Matter Plea hit to Supreme Court after rejected by Delhi HC amidst Lok Sabha Election 2024
India’s highest court, the Supreme Court will reportedly be hearing a group of Chartered Accountant (CA) students’ plea for a postponement of the CA Final and Intermediate Exams scheduled to be held in May 2024.
These students filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in order to obtain relief, citing worries over scheduling conflicts between the upcoming ICAI exams and the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
The petition reportedly submitted on April 16, emphasizes how the exams conflict with the democratic process of the approaching General Elections and asks for their postponement.
According to a few of the circulating tweets on X, Advocate Nirnimesh Dubey will deliver the plea on behalf of all impacted students at the PIL hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.
This action comes after an earlier attempt earlier this month before the Delhi High Court when a plea of 16 CA students was dismissed in a manner that prohibited a postponement.
The Bench of Hon’ble Justice C Hari Shankar was surprised that even this request has even been made. “Mere fact that candidates taking the exam may face hardship in undertaking the exam cannot be a ground for the court to derail the exam which is to be taken by approx 4.26,000 aspirants”, the court said. As per the High Court, the grounds presented were not sufficient and the court said that there will be no changes to the revised date sheet of CA Exams 2024.
The counsel of the institute said exams were postponed before in the wake of COVID but this is a different ground.
“A lot of students have problems in appearing in the exam…students have said that they have problems since there are loudspeakers. These students will be stuck.”
“Don’t appear if they can’t appear,” the bench said.
Students are not giving up and are continuing to pursue legal action through expert and student organizations.
Concurrently, an open letter has been written to Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi pleading for action to reschedule exams. Additionally, a correspondence has been started with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the Election Commission of India (ECAI) describing the democratic and logistical difficulties that arise from conducting examinations during the election period.
The dates for the CA Inter and CA Final exams are still set for 2nd May to 17th May 2024, according to the official schedule. It is also planned to conduct the International Taxation – Assessment Test on 14th May and 16th May 2024. The June exam for the CA Foundation course, on the other hand, remains unchanged.
The ICAI has refused to reschedule the examinations in despite massive social media campaigns and coordinated lobbying efforts. The student’s appeal is a result of their worries about the conflict between exam dates and the critical window of opportunity for civic engagement that coincides with the May 19-June 4 election period. They contend that this conflict infringes upon their fundamental right to vote in addition to posing logistical difficulties.
Students are upset with the ICAI’s decision, which was made public on March 19, believing that their worries regarding mental health and democratic engagement were ignored.
CA students underline in their request to the Prime Minister‘s Office how important it is to postpone exams in order to maintain academic integrity and democratic engagement. They emphasize how important it is to put academic obligations and democratic rights first in this difficult situation.
The Revised schedule released by ICAI will be the same as it was. The exam will be held on the scheduled date as per the revised schedule. So, CA Students don’t waste their further on this matter and focus on their studies.
ICAI rescheduled the CA Examination dates after the Lok Sabha Election dates were announced. The ICAI CA Inter, Final May Examinations were previously scheduled for May 2 to 13. Group 1’s CA Inter examinations were set for May 3, 5, and 7 and Group 2’s on May 9, 11, and 13. Group 1’s CA Final examinations were set for May 2, 4, and 6 and Group 2’s on May 8, 10, and 12. As per the revised schedule of ICAI, the CA Exams will be held from May 2 to May 17.
The Revised Schedule of CA Exams are:
The CA Final Exam is going to be held on May 2, 4 and 8 for Group 1 and for Group 2 on May 10, 14 and 16 and the CA Inter Exam is going to be held on May 3, 5 and 9 for Group 1 and for Group 2 on May 11, 15 and 17.
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