ICAI Forms Committee to Look Into Exam Process After Protests

ICAI President Prafulla Chhajed has said that their evaluation system is “robust and fully digital”.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

After four days of mass protests from students against the discrepancies in the evaluation process and demands to alter the regulations, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said on Thursday, 26 September, that is has formed a high-level independent committee to look into the examination process.

The committee is supposed to look into the examination processes as well as regulations that govern CA examinations, including Regulation 39(4) of the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988. It also been asked to suggest changes, wherever required, in the ICAI examination system.

WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT OF ICAI SAY?

In a press conference held earlier on Friday, ICAI president Prafulla Chhajed said the examination process followed by ICAI ensures multiple levels of monitoring for quality evaluation of answer sheets, adding that the system is “robust and fully digital”.

“The examination process is correct. There is a coding process and secrecy is maintained. It is a foolproof system.”

Prafulla Chhajed, President ICAI

The CA aspirants have been demonstrating outside the ICAI office in Delhi and have demanded revaluation of their answer sheets, alleging they have not been checked properly.

Accompanied by other office-bearers of ICAI council, Chhajed detailed the examination process and evaluation of answer sheets of examinees.

The examiners are experienced professors and experts who are selected after passing an online test. Further, the examiners are regularly checked through a system of sampling in which they are sent 10-15 answer sheets to reveal their approach towards evaluation, he said.

The ICAI also has a system to ensure that the designated examiners evaluate the answer sheets by random online camera check for physical verification, he said.

"Digital evaluation of answer sheets and centralised evaluation are also in place to ensure a foolproof system," he asserted.

The ICAI received around 53,000 applications for showing answer sheets from around three lakh CA aspirants who took the exams conducted by the institute.

Chhajed also said over 100 examiners have been removed based on the report of head examiner of the institute, for not being up to the mark and erratic in checking the answer sheets.

#ICAIPresidentMissing

On Thursday, amid these developments ‘#ICAIPresidentMissing’ was also trending on Twitter.

Earlier, on 24 September, ICAI President Chhajed had addressed the students via a YouTube video, where he had said that the evaluation process was “advanced and robust”.

(With inputs from PTI.)