A. IRUDAYAM Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE Writ Petitions designed as Public Interest Litigations have been filed Mr.A.Irudayam, a practising Advocate with varied prayer. The petitioner would state that he served as a Teacher in a Higher Secondary School at Madurai for about 7 1/2 years, thereafter, joined the services of the E.S.I., Corporation where he worked for about 10 years and then joined the second respondent organisation namely The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India as an Assistant Secretary in the Head Office at New Delhi. The petitioner would further state that functioned as the Head of the Southern Region of the second respondent Institute from June 2002 to August 2007 exercising jurisdiction over the Institutes in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry. The petitioner would state that he is conscious of the problems faced by the Chartered Accountant students and he has filed these Writ Petitions to seek justice for the student community alleging that their fundamental rights are violated due to arbitrary exercise of power and actions, which are ultra vires the provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act. The petitioner has filed six Writ Petitions for varied prayers, which are set out as hereunder: -

(2.) THE sum and substance of the allegations made by the petitioner in all these Writ Petitions is by contending that the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, as amended by Amendment Act, 2006, (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') specify the object of the Act, namely, to make provision for the regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountants and for which purpose to establish an Institute of Chartered Accountants and the legislation does not intend to provide any theoretical education to the students of Chartered Accountancy while enacting the Act. By referring to Section 15(2) of the Act, it is stated that the functions of the Council is to approve academic courses, examination of candidates for enrolment, engagement and training of articled assistants, prescribing qualification for entry into Register and recognition of foreign qualification and the functions under the Act does not provide for imparting theoretical education other than practical training component to articled assistants. Further, by referring to Section 15A of the Act, it is submitted that the provision was introduced to the effect that any University establish by law or any body affiliated to the Institute may impart education on the subjects covered by the academic courses of the Institute and therefore, the second respondent are only competent to impart education on subjects covered by academic courses coming under Section 15(2)(a) of the Amended Act, 2006, and the respondents 1 to 3 have miserably failed in their statutory duty of providing theoretical education envisaged under Section 15A to the students of Chartered Accountant courses.

(3.) THE averments in the other Writ Petitions are substantially similar and in fact the contentions which have been set out above have been referred to in the other Writ Petitions as well, though the prayers sought for are slightly different. However for the present, we do not propose to deal with the specific prayer made in each of the Writ Petitions in the light of the preliminary objection raised by the second respondent.