The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected the plea to postpone ICAI CA Exams 2024, as reported by Bar and Bench.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) has scheduled the CA Intermediate and Final exams for May 2024; however, candidates for the CA have been requesting a postponement of these tests to June in light of the approaching 18th Lok Sabha general elections.
"You want the CA exams to be postponed? Is there some law that says there can’t be any exams during Lok Sabha elections? You have no business to be CA if you can’t study due to election” the bench said, as reported by Hindustan Times.
“Mere fact that candidates taking the exam may face hardship in undertaking the exam cannot be a ground for the court to derail the exam which is to be taken by approx 4.26,000 aspirants. This court is surprised that such a request has been made,” it added, reported HT.
Students, CA professionals, and several student associations have been pressuring the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to reevaluate moving the CA Intermediate and Final Exams from May to June throughout the past month.
Aspirants had also addressed an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the letter, "students may not be able to concentrate on writing exams because the election crowd gathering creates a traffic jam in the city restricting/limiting the movement of transportation or because loudspeakers or campaigning nearby exam centre is so loud."
Aspirants Cite Date Clash With Lok Sabha Elections
Following the announcement of the Lok Sabha Election dates, ICAI revised the dates for the CA Examination. The dates of the CA exams were revised specifically in anticipation of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. ICAI chose to extend the deadlines for tests that coincide rather than holding exams after the Lok Sabha Elections are concluded.
The CA Inter and CA Final Exams were formerly scheduled for May 2–13. ICAI did not move the papers to the following month at all. The Institute replaces the conflicting dates—May 2024—with other dates in the same month. The updated ICAI timetable states that the CA Exams will now be held from May 2 to May 17.
Phase three of the Lok Sabha elections is slated for May 7, 2024, encompassing 12 states, while phase four is set for May 13, 2024, encompassing 10 states. The ICAI CA exams are scheduled on both dates.
