Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI) has sought more time from the Supreme Court to assess the feasibility for conducting CA exams scheduled to be conducted in July and August, reports barandbench.com. The court will hear the matter next week and the hearing was adjourned.

ICAI asked for more time to contact various exam centres that will be conducting the exams in order to assess the situation on ground and check the feasibility of conducting the exams, adds the report.

The report says, Senior Counsel Ramji Srinivasan representing the ICAI said to the Court today that between the previous day of hearing and today, the number of cases of COVID-19 has increased substantially throughout the country. Thus, the institute would require to assess whether the exams can be held at this time.

In the previous hearing, the Bench consisting of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and Sanjiv Khanna had asked the Institute to be flexible and had asked them to extend the deadline for students to opt-out of the exam till the last week before the exam.

The institute had informed the Court that it has taken all precautions for safety and hygiene at the exam centres. Along with it, students will be given an option to opt out of the examination. For students who opt-out, all the examination fees and exemptions will be carried forward and shifted to the next examination cycle.

Supreme Court is hearing a plea in which the petitioner urged the Court to quash the opt-out notification on the grounds that it is a violation of the fundamental rights under the Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, reports Bar and Bench.

The exam which was initially scheduled to be conducted in May is now slated to be conducted from July 29 to August 16. The exam has been postponed twice already.