The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in its notification dated Friday, 3 July, mentioned that it has decided to cancel the May 2020 CA examinations and merge the May 2020 attempt with the November 2020 examinations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ICAI further said that the CA aspirants who intended to appear in May 2020 examinations have the option of availing the due carryover of all benefits including fee paid and exemptions.
“The students who have made application for May 2020 examinations will have an option to change the groups of their appearance and centre of examinations at the time of making a fresh application for November 2020 Examinations,” the ICAI statement reads.
Regarding the November exams, the statement said that it is “subject to conditions prevailing at relevant time, will start from 1 November 2020.”
Earlier an ICAI announcement had stated that the institute will review the COVID-19 situation in the first week of July and that the conduct of the examination starting from 29 July was dependent on prevailing government advisories at the time.
“In any eventuality, the students were to be accommodated to November 2020 examination cycle,” ICAI’s announcement dated 15 June had stated.
The Supreme Court had earlier granted time to the Institute to assess whether the May 2020 exams can be conducted at all amid the pandemic, Bar and Bench reported.
A petition was filed that challenged the ICAI as it enabled aspirants to “opt-out” of the exams. The petitioner mentioned that the ‘opt-out’ option is “in violation of the fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India,” the report added.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)