Delhi High Court issues notice to Centre, ICAI on plea challenging constitutional validity of CA & CS Amendment Act
Court while issuing notice to the Centre and concerned authorities, listed the matter for a detailed hearing on January 20, 2023.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre and others on a plea challenging the constitutional validity of the Chartered Accountants (CA) Amendment Act and the Company Secretaries (CS) Amendment Act.
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad sought responses from the Union of India, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and listed the matter for detailed hearing on January 20, 2023.
Petitioner, Venugopal Swami B sought directions declaring Sections 21(9), 21A(6) & (7), and 21B(6) and (7) of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, as amended by the Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 2022, "ultra vires" to the Constitution as being contrary to the principles enunciated in Articles 14, 19(1)(g), and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The Centre has notified the law, which was passed during the previous budget session of Parliament and received Presidential assent on April 18, 2022, and the bill, according to the Centre, is intended to make the three institutions more transparent in their disciplinary matters and improve the quality of disciplinary processes.
The Central government stated, “this would assist India to support institutions and firms that can be encouraged by the council to create something (completely of Indian origin) similar to the Big Four, which we discuss on a regular basis."
Earlier, this year another petition was filed challenging sections 21(9), 21A(6) and (7), and 21B(6) and (7) of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, as amended by the Chartered Accountants (CA) and Company Secretaries (CS) (Amendment) Act, 2022.
The petition sought that the aforementioned provisions be declared ultra vires to the Constitution as being contrary to the principles enunciated in articles 14, 19(1)(g), and 21.
Source: ANI