The Chartered Accountants (CA) Students and the member’s Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) prepared representation for extension of Old Course of CA Final and IPCC to be presented before ICAI.
“We, a group of CA students and members of ICAI, would like to submit this representation before the examination committee and the board of studies of the Institute Of Chartered Accountants of India (hereinafter referred to as “The Institute”) to extend the validity & examination attempts of the old course of CA Final & CA IPCC considering the drastic impact of the 2nd wave of Covid-19,” the letter read.
The members and students pointed out the prevailing 2nd wave of the COVID-19 virus has made a drastic impact on the lives of citizens of India and it has impacted each and everyone in some or the another way. With over 4 lakh lives lost until now, many of the CA students lost their family members during these past few months.
“This is not a legal representation and the students & members who are submitting this representation have no intent to use this representation as a base to file a legal suit against The Institute per se,” the letter said.
The letter reads, “As per the decision of the council 6 attempts are given to the students of CA Final Old Course in order to clear their examination but it is most important to note that there are many students that opted out directly to May 2021 cycle from the November 2020 cycle and not to January 2021 cycle, due consideration must be given to these students since this attempt of July 2021 will be the 5th Attempt for these students.”
Further, the members and Students said that a revised scheme to Opt-out was rolled out by The Institute on 1 July 2021 after receiving directions received from the Supreme Court, but the notification fails to consider many issues that the students have faced due to this pandemic.
Firstly, our country has a widespread culture of living in joint families, but the notification fails to include paternal/maternal uncle, paternal/maternal aunt, and cousins living in the same premises in the definition of “family members”. Due to this lapse, the benefit of this scheme has not been passed on to many students who live in joint families and were affected due to this pandemic.
Secondly, there are many of the students who belong to small cities & villages and shift from their hometown to metro cities to pursue this esteemed course and live in hostels & PG’s, but the notification fails to address the issue that if a student was affected due to the pandemic if a roommate or a hostel mate tested positive. It is due to this lapse, the benefit of this scheme has not been passed on to many students who live in hostels & PGs.
Thirdly, many of the students who belong to the Old course have settled down with their spouse and live on the premises with their in-laws now, but the notification has failed to include in-laws in the definition of “Family members”, it is due to this lapse many students who were genuinely affected by the pandemic have not received the benefit of this notification.
Fourthly, the students who belong to the old course have family members who are suffering from autoimmune disease and doctors have strictly told them that if they come in contact with this virus it would prove to be fatal for them. Also, it is most important to note that as per the statements made by the health ministry, the third wave of COVID-19 will affect small children and the effects are already visible in Maharashtra, there are female students from the old course that are mothering toddlers and they cannot risk the lives of their child, it is due to these reasons, neither they are able to appear for the upcoming exams to protect their family members nor they have an option to Opt-out and appear in the next cycle.
Fifthly, the institute is already passing on the benefit of extension to the students who are eligible to Opt-out and will be making administrative arrangements in November 2021 to conduct exams for the students of old course who are eligible to Opt-out as per the current scheme, then it would be very harsh not to provide an extension to those students who are unable to Opt-out on mere technical grounds whereas the issues do prevail in reality.
“The current examination attempt that was supposed to take place in May 2021 was delayed due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and will now be conducted from 5th July 2021. It is pertinent to note that the students of the old course that are ineligible to opt-out, will have no option but to appear in an unprepared manner in this attempt due to the effects of the pandemic and if they fail, they will be shifted to a new course, Further, they will have to undergo mandatory training like MCS & ITT in order to be eligible to appear for the exams in November 2021 as a new syllabus student. Also, even if the results of this attempt are declared in the first week of September, it would become very difficult for the student to update himself with the new syllabus and simultaneously attend these training in a mere 45 to 50 days and a failure due to this difficulty will push his/her career by another 6 months,” the letter added.
The students prayed before the ICAI to take Suo-moto cognizance of our representation and address the issues by calling an emergency meeting of the council since the matter is of time-bound nature and the deadline expires in 2 days and passes appropriate directions so as to provide an extension of attempt for the students of the old course of Final as well as IPCC or alternatively provide an unconditional Opt-out option for the students of the old course.
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