The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to consider treating aspirants who are unable to appear in CA exams scheduled between July 29 and August 16 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as 'opt out' candidates as the prevailing situation is not static.  

It suggested that if a candidate, who has not opted out, is unable to appear in the exam due to exigency then he or she should be given the same benefit as provided to those who have opted out.            

 The apex court said ICAI should be flexible in conducting exams amid the pandemic and take care of concern of candidates.        

It suggested that option for change in examination centre should be made available to the aspirants till the last week before the scheduled exams.

A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar was hearing through video conferencing a plea which has challenged the 'opt out' option alleging that it “arbitrarily” discriminate between the aspirants in the May cycle of CA examination.               

The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, observed that situation is not static and continuously changing and the ICAI should be flexible on the issues of 'opt out' and change of examination centre.               

“Even if a candidate has not chosen the opt out option and he suddenly come under a containment zone, what will you do? You should treat candidates who do not appear as opt out cases,” the bench said.

The top court observed that option for change in examination centre should be given till last week considering the fact that an area may become a containment zone due to the COVID-19 situation prevailing in the country.        

The ICAI's counsel told the bench that they would place before the court a draft notification which would address the concerns raised by candidates.         

The bench posted the matter for further hearing on July 2 and said that the ICAI should also keep in mind the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs with regard to exams to be conducted by different boards like CBSE.

 Advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, appearing for the petitioner, told the bench that there should be one examination centre per district.