Telangana High Court
Suravarapu Palani Prabhu Teja vs Institute Of Chartered Accountants Of ... on 18 March, 2024
Author: Surepalli Nanda
Bench: Surepalli Nanda
1
WP_23223_2023
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD
W.P. No. 23223 of 2023
Between:
Suravarapu Palani Prabhu Teja
... Petitioner
And
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
and others
... Respondents
JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED ON: 18.03.2024
THE HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE SUREPALLI NANDA
1. Whether Reporters of Local newspapers : Yes
may be allowed to see the Judgment?
2. Whether the copies of judgment may be
marked to Law Reporters/Journals? : Yes
3. Whether Their Lordships wish to
see the fair copy of the Judgment? : Yes
_________________
SUREPALLI NANDA, J
2
WP_23223_2023
SN,J
THE HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE SUREPALLI NANDA
W.P. No. 23223 of 2023
% 18.03.2024
Between:
Suravarapu Palani Prabhu Teja
... Petitioner
And
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
and others
... Respondents
< Gist:
Head Note:
!Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr B.Tata Reddy
^counsel for Respondents: Mr .V.Rajeev Reddy
? Cases Referred:
3
WP_23223_2023
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HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE SUREPALLI NANDA
W.P. No. 23223 of 2023
ORDER:
Heard the Learned counsel Mr. B. Tata Reddy,
appearing on behalf of the Petitioner and the Learned
counsel Mr. C.V. Rajeeva Reddy appearing on behalf of
Respondent Nos.1 to 3.
2. The petitioner approached this Court seeking
prayer as under:
"to issue a writ, order or direction more particularly one
in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action
of the Respondents in not allowing the Petitioner to
appear for the CA-Final Examination to be conducted in
November,2023 even though the Petitioner had
registered for the articleship on 26.04.2021 much before
the cut-off date of 30.04.2021 and allowing the
candidates who had registered after the cut-off date by
availing the period of extension given under the
notification announcement dated 29.04.2021 of
Respondent No.2 as illegal, arbitrary, colourable exercise
of power, violative of law of equity and equality, violative
of Article 14,21 of the Constitution of India while
consequently permitting the Petitioner to appear for the
exam and declare his result and consequently declaring
the notification announcement dated 29.04.2021 of
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Respondent No.2 as illegal, arbitrary, colorable exercise
of power, violative of law of equity and equality, violative
of Article 14,21 of the Constitution of India and to pass
such other order(s) as are deemed fit and proper in the
interest of justice, equity and good conscience."
3. PERUSED THE RECORD :
i) The interim orders of this Court dt. 22.08.2023
passed in I.A.No.1 of 2023 reads as under :
"Notice before admission.
Taking into consideration the specific averments
made at Para 12 of the affidavit filed in support of the
writ petition that the last date of submission of
application is 23.08.2023 and with a late fee of Rs.600 is
upto 30.08.2023, the respondents are directed to
receive the exam application of the petitioner with the
prescribed late fee of Rs.600/-, if the same is applied
before 30.08.2023 as per rules pending further orders to
be passed in the present writ petition"
ii) The relevant paras in the counter affidavit filed by
Respondent Nos.1 to 4 and in particular, paras 5, 6, 9,
10, 11, reads as under:
5. It is respectfully submitted that the brief facts of the
case are that the Petitioner herein is a student enrolled
with the answering Respondent for the CA Final Course.
As per Regulation 50 of the Chartered Accountants
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Regulations, 1988, a candidate is required to complete
the practical training for a period 3 years as an Article
Assistant in addition to the other regulatory
requirements to enrol as a member of the Institute
(Chartered Accountant). It is further submitted that in
terms of Regulation 29 D of the Chartered Accountants
Regulations, 1988, in order to appear in the CA Final
Examinations, a candidate should amongst other
requirements, have completed the practical training of 3
years on or before the last day of the month preceding
the month in which the Examination is held or has been
serving the last six months of his practical training,
including excess leave, if any, under Regulation 50 on
the first day of the month in which the examination is
held. It is submitted that the next CA Final Examination
in proposed to be held in the month of November, 2023.
Therefore, a candidate should have at least completed
2.5 years of practical training as on 31.10.2023. The
relevant provisions of the Chartered Accountants
Regulations, 1988 are reproduced below:
"29D. Admission to Final Examination
[Applicable to candidates appearing in Final Examination
under the syllabus approved by the Council under
clauses (ii), (iii) and (iv) of regulation 31]
[(1) No candidate shall be admitted to the Final
Examination, unless he-
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(i) is registered for the Final Course and has passed both
the Groups of the Intermediate Examination held under
regulation 28G:
(ii) has completed the practical training as
required for admission as a member at least six
months before the 1st day of the month in which
the examination is held;
(iii) has successfully completed advanced Integrated
Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills under
regulation 51E;
(iv) has passed the self-paced online modules as per
regulation 51F; and
(v) has complied with such other requirements in such
manner as may be specified by the Council from time to
time.
(2) xxxx
50. Period of practical training for an articled
assistant
An articled assistant shall not be eligible for the
membership of the Institute unless he produces a
certificate in the form approved by the Council from the
appropriate person entitled to issue such a certificate to
the effect that he -
(i) has served as an articled assistant for a period of
[three years]; or
(ii) has served partly as an articled assistant and partly
as an audit assistant for a total period as specified in
clause (i) above for which purpose complete eight
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months of service as an audit assistant shall be
reckoned as six months of training as an articled
assistant, any fraction of a period of less than 8 months
as an audit assistant being ignored:
[Provided that a candidate who was registered as an
articled assistant for a period of three years, on or
before the commencement of the Chartered Accountants
(Amendment) Regulations, 2023, shall be eligible to
continue and complete the remaining period of practical
training as per the deed of articles executed under these
regulations irrespective of any break in the continuity of
training.]"
6. It is submitted that the petitioner commenced his
practical training on 26.04.2021 and as on 1 November,
2023, he would admittedly be completing 900 days of
practical training as an Article Assistant which falls short
of required Practical training of two years and 6 months
as envisaged in the Regulation 29 D as stated in detail
hereunder. Therefore, by virtue of Regulation 29 D of the
Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988, he is not
eligible for the CA Final Examination to be held in
November, 2023.
9. It is submitted that the above relaxation in Regulation
29 D was given to those students who could not
commence their practical training before the cut- off
date i.e. 30.04.2021 as a one-time measure to mitigate
the hardship faced by such students due to
lockdown/curfew on account of the second wave of
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Covid-19 pandemic. It is submitted that the relaxations
given in the said announcement is not applicable to the
petitioner as he was already registered for the practical
training before the cut-off date i.e. 30.04.2021. The
Announcement was applicable to only those class of
students who were deprived to register for the practical
training due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As such, they form a separate class apart from the
petitioner. Accordingly, the petitioner cannot claim parity
with those students who are differently situated on
account of Covid Pandemic prevalent at the relevant
time. As the petitioner registered himself for the
practical training before the due date and he could have
completed the required period of practical training as on
the first day of November, 2023 in which month CA Final
Examination is proposed to be held but because of the
excess leaves taken by him, he is not eligible to appear
in the November, 2023 CA Final Examination. It is
submitted that though initially the petitioner registered
himself for the practical training on 29.04.2021 but after
undergoing the for the practical training on practical
training for a period of 89 days, he terminated his
article-ship and re-registered the article- ship after a
gap of 20 day due to which he would not be completing
the required period of practical training as prescribed
under Regulation 29D of the Chartered Accountants
Regulations, 1988. As the petitioner himself is at fault in
not re-joining the practical training immediately and
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took excess leaves of 20 days, therefore, he cannot be
permitted to take advantage of his own lapses.
10. It is submitted that the comparison made by the
petitioner with those students who could not register
themselves due to lockdown/curfew on account of
outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic is not permissible in law
as both set of people are situated differently and unlike
the petitioner, the students already affected by the Covid
Pandemic needed to be treated differently as they need
some relief. The petitioner cannot be treated at par with
other students affected by unprecedented Covid-19
pandemic. It is the settled law that equal treatment to
un-equals also offend the Article 14 of the Constitution
of India and the excess leaves of 20 days taken by the
petitioner in re-registering himself for article-ship for his
personal reasons cannot be in any way be compared to
the delay caused by the hardships on account of the
Covid-19 pandemic to the students who were covered by
the Announcement dated 29.04.2021 issued by the
Institute.
11. It is submitted that the announcement dated
29.04.2021 consists of a reasonable classification and
has the nexus with the object sought to be achieved,
that is to mitigate the hardships faced by the students
who were deprived to register for the article-ship before
the cut-off date and by taking recourse to that
announcement, the petitioner cannot be permitted to
take undue advantage of his own lapses.
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4. The case of the Petitioner, in brief, as per the
averments made in the affidavit filed in support of the
present writ petition is as follows :
i) It is the specific case of the Petitioner that the
Petitioner had qualified CA - Inter (2nd stage) in
January 2021 and had registered for Petitioner's
Articleship Training on 26.04.2021 under CA Smt.
Lalitha Bisale and worked at Bangalore for 89 days and
got Petitioner's Articleship Training transfer to
Hyderabad as Petitioner was facing hardship due to
Covid-19 norms at Bangalore and after Petitioner got
Petitioner's Articleship terminated at Bangalore,
Petitioner resumed and continued Petitioner's
Articleship training under CA one Sri P. Sri Goverdhana
Reddy at Hyderabad and the Petitioner completed 900
days of the said training on 31.10.2023. The
Respondent had issued announcement dt. 05.07.2023
declaring the examination schedule for CA final exam. It
is further the case of the Petitioner that when the
Petitioner was applying online for the CA Final
examination to be conducted in November 2023 an
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error message was shown stating that the Petitioner is
not allowed to fill the exam form due to non-compliance
of Articleship training requirements. The Petitioner
registered for articleship on 26.04.2021 and an
impugned announcement dt. 29.04.2021 was issued by
Respondent No.2 extending the date of registership for
Articleship, by which the Respondents have permitted
students who have qualified in November 2020/January
2021 exams to appear in the CA-Final examination
conducted in November 2023 even without completing
2.5 years (913 days) of training upto 31.10.2023. It is
further the specific case of the Petitioner that despite
the Petitioner having passed Petitioner's CA Inter
examinations in January 2021 and having registered for
Articlehship training on 26.04.2021 and also inspite of
having completed more number of days in Articleship
than the students who had registered later, the
Petitioner had not been permitted to write exam in view
of the impugned announcement dt. 29.04.2021 issued
by the 2nd Respondent. It is further the case of the
Petitioner that the impugned announcement dt.
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29.04.2021 should be made applicable to all the
students who have passed in November/January 2021
CA-Inter exams and not just the students who have
registered after 30.04.2021. When the Petitioner
addressed a mail in this regard to Respondent No.3,
Petitioner was informed that the Petitioner is not
eligible to appear in November 2023 examination since
the Petitioner is not covered under the Board of Studies
announcements dt. 29.04.2021 and 21.05.2021.
Aggrieved by the same Petitioner approached the Court
by filing the present writ petition primarily contending
that though the Petitioner had registered for the
Articleship on 26.04.2021 much before the cutoff date
of 30.04.2021 and allowing the candidates who had
registered after the cutoff date by availing the period of
extension given under the Notification announcement
dt. 29.04.2021 of Respondent No.2 as illegal.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION :
5. The Counter affidavit filed by Respondents in
particular the averments at Paras 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 clearly
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indicate that in terms of provisions of Chartered
Accountant Regulations, 1988 a candidate should be
serving the last 6 months of his practical training on the
1st day of the month in which the CA-Final examination
is to be held and in order to fulfil this requirement a
candidate is required to be registered on or before
30.04.2021, however this condition was relaxed by the
council for those candidates who were deprived to
register their article-ship due to the unprecedented
Covid-19 pandemic and the petitioner availed excess
leave due to which the petitioner could not have
required period of article-ship as prescribed in the
Regulation 29(D) of the Chartered Accountant
Regulations, 1988, since the Petitioner registered
himself for practical training on 26.04.2021 but after
serving for a period of 89 days, Petitioner terminated
his articleship and re-registered the article-ship after a
gap of 20 days due to which the Petitioner failed to
complete the required period of practical training as
prescribed under Regulation 29(D) of the Chartered
Accountant Regulations, 1988.
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6. Taking into consideration the averments made in
the counter affidavit filed by the Respondents No.1 to 4
(referred to and extracted above), this Court opines
that in view of the fact that the Petitioner had already
registered himself for practical training before the cut
off date i.e., 30.04.2021, the announcements dated
29.04.2021 and 21.05.2021 are not applicable to the
Petitioner and they are applicable only to those
candidates who were deprived to register for the
practical training due to Lockdown/Curfew in various
parts of the country on account of Covid-19. The
Petitioner registered himself for practical training on
26.04.2021 and after serving for a period of 89 days the
Petitioner terminated his article-ship and re-registered
the article-ship after a gap of 20 days, therefore the
Petitioner cannot compare himself with those students
who were deprived to register themselves due to
lockdown/curfew on account of outbreak of Covid-19
pandemic and duly considering that this Court can issue
a Mandamus only when the Petitioner has an existing
legal right and in the present case admittedly the
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Petitioner failed to establish the same and since no
mandamus lies contrary to regulations this court opines
that the Petitioner is not entitled for the relief as prayed
for in the present writ petition, though Petitioner
appeared for the subject examination i.e., CA-Final
Examination in pursuance to the interim orders of this
Court dt. 22.08.2023 passed in I.A.No.1/2023 and
accordingly the writ petition is dismissed since the
same is devoid of merits. However, there shall be no
order as to costs.
Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending shall stand
closed.
__________________
SUREPALLI NANDA, J
Dated: 18.03.2024
Note: L.R. copy to be marked
b/o
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