ANNOUNCEMENT

Draft amendments in the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988 notified in the Gazette of India vide Notification No. 1-CA(7)/167/2014 dated 10th September, 2014

The Council at its 337th meeting held on 29th, 30th and 31st October, 2014 in the office of the Institute at A-29, Sector 62, Noida considered the comments received on draft amendments in the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988 notified vide Notification No. 1-CA(7)/167/2014 dated 10th September, 2014 in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, dated 10th September, 2014.

The Council on a consideration of these comments decided as under:-

Regulation 39(4):
The Council noted that the existing limit prescribed under this regulation is Rs.500/- and the actual fee being charged is Rs.100/- per paper subject to a maximum of Rs.400/-. The Council also noted that the draft amendments as notified seek to increase the upper ceiling only from Rs.500/- to Rs.2500/- and this was in line with otherenabling provisions in the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 pertaining to annual membership fee and certificate of practice fee. The Council on a consideration of these comments was of the view that under the proposed amendments also the actual fee to be charged is to be decided by the Council from time to time. However, considering the comments received, the Council decided to make the draft amendments more clarificatory and these be modified as under:-

Page No. 4 - Clause (a) of the Gazette of India - in regulation 39(4) for the words “rupees two thousand five hundred”, the words “rupees three hundred fifty per paper subject to a maximum of Rs.2500/- for all the papers taken together” be substituted.

It is clarified that the above is only an enabling provision which empowers the Council to increase the fees upto the limit prescribed over a period of time, without having to approach the Central Government. As such, the existing fee being charged currently remains unchanged.

Regulation 39A:
The Council noted that the existing fee for this purpose is Rs.500/- per answer book and that the draft amendments seek to fix the upper ceiling for inspection of answer books at Rs.5,000 and for supply of certified copy of evaluated answer books at Rs.8,000/- and that this was in line with other enabling provisions in the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 pertaining to annual membership fee and certificate of practice fee. The Council on a consideration of these comments was of the view that under the proposed amendments also the actual fee to be charged is to be decided by the Council from time to time. However, keeping in view the comments received, the Council decided to make the following modifications on the draft amendments:-

Page No. 4 - Serial No. 4. of the Gazette of India - in proposed new regulation 39A for the words “rupees five thousand in the case of inspection of answer book and rupees eight thousand in case of supply of certified copy of evaluated answer book”, the words “rupees five hundred per paper subject to a maximum of rupees four thousand for inspection of answer book or supply of certified copy of evaluated answer book or both” be substituted.

Here again, it is clarified that the above is only an enabling provision which empowers the Council to increase the fees upto the limit prescribed over a period of time, without having to approach the Central Government. As such, the existing fee being charged currently remains unchanged.

The draft amendments as above have been sent to the Central Government for approval.