On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking the postponement of certain papers of the upcoming Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams scheduled for May, citing the Lok Sabha polls.
The bench, consisting of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, emphasized that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) had not scheduled any exams on election dates.
The court noted that the Lok Sabha elections are slated for May 7 and 13, with no exams scheduled for May 6 and May 12.
Changing the examination date, the court stated, would disrupt the extensive arrangements already made for the exams and could lead to "grave injustice for some students."
Declaring that the scheduling of exams falls under "policy decisions," the court refused to entertain the Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
However, it acknowledged the importance of the right to vote and considered the predicament of candidates who would be both sitting for exams and voting.
With 591 centers and no exams planned on polling dates, the court deemed any relief at this juncture prejudicial, particularly with over 4 lakh students already enrolled.
The Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams are slated to commence from May 2 and run until May 17. The plea specifically sought the postponement of exams scheduled for May 8 and May 14 due to elections being held in certain states on May 7 and May 13.
Earlier, on April 8, the Delhi High Court had declined a similar plea to postpone the CA exams, dismissing it as "bereft of substance."
The counsel representing the ICAI had argued against rescheduling the exams in the second week of June, citing potential disruption to the entire process and assuring that no exams had been planned on polling dates.
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