In a relief to chartered accountancy aspirants, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed them to opt out if they or their family members suffered from COVID-19.
The court directed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to allow candidates to opt out of the July exam, if they were able to produce a certificate from a registered medical practitioner showing that either they or any of their family members were suffering from COVID-19 or its after-effects and unable to prepare for the exam.
“A candidate shall be entitled to exercise the option of opting out if he/she personally, or any of his/her family member, has suffered COVID-19 in the recent past and the fact is so certified by a registered medical practitioner, as a result of which he/she is unable to appear in the ensuing examination or, for that matter, is disabled in preparing for the examination,” the court order said. RT-PCR test result was not necessary if a candidate had a doctor’s certificate.
Change of centre
The court further directed that candidates should be given the option to opt out even if the exam centre has been changed to another location within the same city.
“If you are changing the exam centre at the last minute because of your own logistical problem, you should leave it to the candidate to decide whether he or she wants to opt out. You have to give the candidate the choice and respect their choice,” Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, leading a three-judge Bench, addressed the ICAI, represented by senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan.
The court said candidates who opted out due to “COVID-related problems” and exam centre changes should be allowed to appear in the back-up exam whenever it would be conducted.
The court said the ICAI scheme already allowed candidates affected by the lockdown during the examination to opt out appear for the back-up exam to be conducted by the institute in due course.
The court, allowing the ICAI to go ahead with its exams in July, directed the institute to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedure issued by the competent authority under the law, including the Disaster Management Act.
Court observations on Tuesday
On Tuesday, the court pointed out to the ICAI that opt-out option should be made available not only for the candidates who are COVID-19 positive at the time of exam but also for those who could not prepare for it due to extended post-pandemic complications certified by an expert.
The Bench was hearing pleas to postpone the exam due to the pandemic.
The ICAI had said that July was the apt time to conduct the exam with all safety protocols in place, considering the lull in cases. The third wave may hit in September or October. It had noted that candidates were eager to take the exam. “Out of 3,74,230 candidates, as on June 27, more than 2,82,000 candidates have downloaded their admit cards, thus showing their eagerness to appear in the examination,” it had argued.
