Lakhs of students of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) across the country are on a warpath over alleged discrepancies in the evaluation of their examination papers.
While about 200 students of accountancy are staging a protest outside the ICAI office here in the national capital since Monday demanding for re-evaluation of the papers, some Opposition leaders on Wednesday lent their weight to the agitation.
Coming in support of the students protest, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that their demand for re-evaluation of the answer sheets was justified and should be supported by all political parties.
"Across India 12 Lakh CA students are fighting for their right to have their exam papers re-evaluated by ICAI. Given the widespread reports of errors in the evaluation of answer sheets, this demand is justified and should be supported by all political parties," Rahul tweeted.
The students have continued their protest outside the ICAI office for the third consecutive day pressing for their demand as the ICAI has refused to conduct re-evaluation of the papers.
Appealing to the students to call of their agitation, the ICAI, on the other hand, urged them to repose their “trust and faith” in the “time tested and robust” examination system of the ICAI.
As the deadlock continued, the ICAI on Wednesday once again appealed to the students to call of their agitation and advised them to concentrate on their studies for the forthcoming examinations.
“The representatives were assured that the Institute will take all necessary measures to protect their interest within the provisions of the CA Regulations 1988,” the ICAI said in a statement.
The ICAI said that a few answer books circulated on social media alleging errors in evaluation on the part of the Institute were checked.
“And from the records of the Institute, it is noticed that none of these relate to May 2019 examination as has been claimed on social media,” it added.
The institute, however, remained on the firm on its stand against re-evaluation of the papers.
As per the provisions of Regulations 39 (4) of Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988, the correction of marks is awarded only in three cases—when no marks awarded to any answer or part of it, there are totaling errors in step-wise marks awarded for an answer, there is the wrong carry forward or its part of marks awarded to answer on the cover page of the answer books, the Institute said.
“Beyond this, the Regulation does not permit any subjectivity in checking of an answer. This aspect of explanation to regulation 39 (4) not permitting re-evaluation has been upheld in many legal cases in which ICAI was a party,” the ICAI added.
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