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The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by BJP member Jayant Sinha, will meet on February 3 to hear the views of the three professional institutes — CA Institute, Cost Accountants Institute and Company Secretaries Institute — on the recent Bill referred to it for scrutiny.
It maybe recalled that the Lok Sabha had, on December 21, referred the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (amendment) Bill, 2021, to this Parliamentary Panel.
Already, the CA Institute, which has submitted a memorandum to the panel, has raised concerns about certain provisions in the Bill, including the one pertaining to the constitution of the Disciplinary Committee. The three main issues agitating the CA Institute include those about the Disciplinary Committee, approval of names of CA firms registered with the ICAI and the proposed coordination committee between the institutes of Chartered Accountants, Cost Accountants and Company Secretaries.
What the Bill says
Under the current law, the Disciplinary Committee has two government nominees and three members from the ICAI council. The Bill has proposed to include two CAs and three non-CAs. Besides, it has also been proposed that the Disciplinary Committee will be headed by a non-CA.
The CA Institute wants the current status to be maintained. The government has, in the Bill, proposed that even the Presiding Officer should be non-CA.
‘Difficult for non-CA’
ICAI President Nihar Jambusaria has been contending that if a non-CA becomes the Presiding Officer, then the person will not understand the nitty-gritty of accounting standards, auditing standards, ethical standards and it would be difficult for him to make a judgement in any case. Currently, the ICAI President or Vice President is the Presiding Officer of the Disciplinary Committee.
The CA Institute is also pitching for an amendment to the proposed provision that would require the ICAI to approve the name of a firm, which is not similar to an existing CA firm in India or abroad.
This Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 17 last year and the Parliamentary Panel has been requested to submit the report in the Budget session itself. The first part of the Budget session will start on January 31 and conclude on February 11. The second phase will commence on March 14 and end on April 8.
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