[CA Exams 2021] 6,000 students write to CJI NV Ramana seeking opt-out option, additional attempt in case of failure to appear due to COVID-19

With less than a month to go for the 15-day long offline examination for Chartered Accountancy (CA), over 6,000 students have written a letter to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana flagging three major concerns with regard to the proposed examination. .The following three concerns were raised in the letter:- No Opt-Out Option has been provided to the students;- No Extension Of Old Course Attempts;No Additional attempt for the students who are unable to appear due to COVID-19. .The letter said that these concerns were raised by them before the Institute Of Chartered Accountants Of India (ICAI) which failed to address these concerns in totality.The CA examinations are scheduled to begin from July 5 and approximately 3 lakh students will be appearing in these exams from all over India..The students sought the CJI's indulgence to treat the letter as a suo motu plea and hear it urgently along with an earlier filed public interest litigation petition filed before the Supreme Court in this regard. .One of the major concerns raised in the letter was regarding candidates being made to appear for physical exams during COVID-19. ."Majority of the students that will be appearing for these exams belong to the age group of 18-45 and have not been fully vaccinated yet, this puts the students at a high risk of getting sick during the conduct of the exams. Also, if we have a look at the effects of 2nd wave of COVID-19, it has been more drastic than the 1st Wave of COVID-19 especially on the young population of the country, yet the relief of OptOut Option that was provided to the students who appeared for the exams during the 1 st Wave of COVID-19 has not been extended to the students who will be appearing for the exams during this wave, making the institute very biased and unjust towards the students," the letter said. .The letter also pointed out how a similar petition was filed before the Supreme Court during the May 2020 exam cycle when the apex court strongly objected to the ICAI decision to not provide opt out and directed the institute to be flexible and not rigid, as it would be very unfair to the students who are unable to appear for these upcoming exams due to the effects of COVID-19..[CA Exams 2021] Plea in Supreme Court seeks opt-out option, extra chance for candidates, increase in exam centres.The candidates also highlighted the court proceedings in the case relating to CBSE exams. It was stated that when CBSE wanted to conduct the exams for its students, the Supreme Court asked for a proper justification from CBSE to depart from its decision to cancel the exams during the previous year since the conditions have worsened now as compared to the last year. "Applying the same principle in this case it is most humbly requested that an additional attempt should also be provided to the CA students of July 2021 as it was provided to the CA students who appeared for the exams in November 2020 attempt," the letter requested. .The students, therefore, sought the following reliefs:- Direct ICAI to provide an opt-out option to the students who are unable to appear for the exams due to COVID-19;- Direct ICAI to increase the number of attempts for Old Course Students;- Direct ICAI to conduct an additional examination attempt for students who cannot appear for the upcoming exams due to COVID-19.