Members Can Respond to Tenders Open to Other Professionals Apart from CAs: ICAI:

Members Can Respond to Tenders Open to Other Professionals Apart from CAs: ICAI The Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has cleared a chartered accountant who was accused of violating the tender guidelines issued by the institute. The case was registered against CA Dinesh C. Jain (respondent), accusing him of participating in a tender bid for the financial audit services of the Gujarat Rural Development Department. It was alleged that he had violated the tender guidelines issued by the institute.

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These guidelines restrict the members from bidding for tenders in exclusive areas such as audit and attestation. They can only participate if a minimum fee is specified or if the tender is open for other professionals apart from CAs. However, in the present case, the tender allegedly had an estimated value of Rs 2.10 lakh, while the firm quoted a fee of Rs 21,000. The case was started after the Tender Monitoring Directorate of ICAI reviewed a tender issued by the Gujarat Rural Development Department, during which it noticed that the included respondent firm had quoted fees lower than the estimated bid value. During the hearing, the respondent denied the allegations, arguing that the audit was not exclusively reserved for the chartered accountant, as the tender and the DRDA guidelines allowed the audit to be conducted by a chartered accountant or any other auditor. He said that the restriction on tender participation was not applicable in his case.

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The committee analyzed the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Rural Development and found that the audit work was open to professionals other than chartered accountants. Therefore, the committee held that the respondent did not violate the tender guidelines issued by the ICAI. "In view of the above observations, considering the submissions and material on record, the Committee held the Respondent NOT GUILTY of Professional Misconduct falling within the meaning of Item (1) of Part II of the Second Schedule to the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949," the committee said.