ICAI’s 442nd Council Meeting: Game-Changing Decisions Every CA Must Know

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Council, in its 442nd meeting, has made some important decisions for the members and students. These changes include updates on OTP validation in the SSP Portal, withdrawal of the condonation fee and more. Let us know about these decisions in detail.

Requirement of OTP Validation in SSP Portal

The council has given its approval for the OTP validation process for the application marked as ‘Ask for Correction‘ in the SSP Portal. These are as follows:

• For the firm constitution, OTP was initially required by all partners for initial submission and corrections, but now only the Head In-Charge needs to validate OTP for applications sent for “Ask for Correction”.
• For admission, retirement, or reconstitution of partners, OTP was initially submitted by all partners for corrections, but now it is needed from the Head In-Charge and the partner joining or leaving.
• For changes in the Head In-charge, now the OTP will only be validated by the Head In-charge.

Additionally, the council has decided on some safeguards, including submitting a declaration confirming that resubmissions are only for discrepancies identified by the system, a checkbox mechanism in the SSP Portal to restrict edits to relevant sections, and an authorisation clause confirming partner consent before resubmission.

Review of Continuation/Discontinuation of Condonation Facility

The council has decided that for the constitution of Proprietorship/Partnership Firms, Form 18 must be filed within 30 days of firm name approval. Late applications will not be accepted, and there is no condonation of delay after this period.

For LLPs, the council has decided that they must be constituted within 90 days of approval received from the ROC. The condonation of a delay of more than 90 days can be accepted, subject to a delay period of up to two years from the ROC Approval date.

Condonation Fee for Delay in Submission of Form 112

The ICAI reviewed its earlier decision made at the 382nd meeting in March-April 2019, which imposed a condonation fee and a two-year delay in giving the membership under Regulation 65 for the delay in submission of Form 112 for pursuing other courses.

ICAI’s 442nd Council Meeting: Game-Changing Decisions Every CA Must Know

The Council has now withdrawn this decision and will not levy such a condonation fee. It was decided that the cases of late submission of Form 112 in the future will be handled under Regulation 66 on a case-by-case basis.