No Affair Is A Personal Affair For CAs: SC Judgement Allows Regulator To Monitor Private Lives

The latest Supreme Court (SC) judgement that would allow ICAI to register complaints against CAs (Chartered Accountants) for misconduct outside of their professional work, has agitated many in the profession, as reported by Business Standard (BS).

Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) is a statutory body that regulates the CA profession in the country and is also the second largest professional Accounting & Finance entity in the world.

Agreeing with the judgement, Rakesh Nangia, managing partner, Nangia & Co, said, “The profession inculcates responsibility to ensure the highest level of performance since it involves stakeholders such as governments, employers, investors, clients, the business and financial community who rely on the objectivity and integrity of a chartered accountant for systematic functioning of commerce.”

The judgement, delivered by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha, allows ICAI to undertake disciplinary action against those CAs whose any act is believed to have brought disgrace to the profession, irrespective of whether the said act was done in a professional capacity or not.

“This judgement now settles and vindicates ICAI’s position. The example that we normally use is, if a CA drinks and drives or creates a scene in public space that can bring disrepute to the profession, action should be taken against him whether or not it was in his professional capacity or not,” stated Manoj Fadnis, former president of ICAI, to Economic Times (ET).