The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking the postponement of specific Chartered Accountancy (CA) exam papers scheduled for May, coinciding with the Lok Sabha elections. The bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) had not scheduled any exams on the election dates of May 7 and 13.
The court emphasized that altering the examination dates would disrupt the extensive arrangements already in place and could result in “grave injustice for some students.” It further stated that the scheduling of exams is a matter of “policy decisions” and declined to entertain the Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
“But weighing the importance of the right to vote we have examined the position of candidates who shall be appearing for exams and would also need to vote. 591 centres are there and no exams on polling dates. At this stage when 4 lakh plus students have enrolled, any relief at this stage would result in grave prejudice,” the CJI said.
The CA exams are scheduled to begin on May 2 and continue until May 17. The petition had sought the postponement of exams scheduled for May 8 and May 14 to other dates, as elections are to be held in some states on May 7 and May 13.
Earlier, on April 8, the Delhi High Court had rejected a similar plea, expressing surpri3se at the request and deeming the petition as “bereft of substance.” The ICAI’s counsel had argued that rescheduling the exams to the second week of June would disrupt the entire process and assured that due care had been taken to ensure that no exams are scheduled on polling dates.