ICAI CA Aspirant Files Plea in SC Seeking Opt Out Option, Isolation Rooms for Symptomatic Students Without RT PCR Report

An aspirant of the Chartered Accountancy (CA) has filed a plea in the Supreme Court of India seeking directions to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) about seeking ‘opt out’ option for COVID-19 symptomatic students without producing RT PCR report. The CA exams are scheduled to be held from December 5 to 20.

The petitioner, Sanjeev K Arora, filed the plea regarding the December 2021 cycle of the CA foundation, intermediate and final exams. It sought directions for alternative arrangements such as isolation rooms for those with symptoms but without making RT PCR reports mandatory. It requested that instead, the institute may consider medical certificates for allowing such students the option of ‘opt out’, reported Live Law.

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The plea stated, “Insistence on an RTPCR report (within 72 hours) for the examination scheduled to be held from 05.12.2021 to 19.12.2021, is impracticable and unfeasible for the students preparing to write the exams as the examination cycle lasts for 15 days and not a single day stint and it is impracticable to get the RTPCR report after every second exam.”

The upcoming CA exam would be the last chance for the candidates appearing for the old course, hence the plea stated that such students be given a one-time relaxation.

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The Supreme Court had earlier allowed candidates to opt out of the upcoming exams if they or their family members have suffered from COVID-19. It had also stated that the candidate need not produce RT-PCR report if the candidate is able to produce a medical certificate that has been issued by registered medical practitioners for his family members. Such candidate will be permitted to appear for the next examination for both old and new syllabus, the bench comprising of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and Aniruddha Bose had said earlier.

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