New Delhi: The Opposition on Tuesday accused the government of increasing the “stranglehold” of the corporate affairs ministry on the profession of chartered accountancy and said the amendments it has proposed to law for cost and chartered accountants will infringe on their independence.
During the discussion on The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021, several Opposition MPs said the government has failed to incorporate the suggestions of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance to which it had been referred to for scrutiny.
DMK’s A Raja and NCP’s Supriya Sule said there seems to be some “hidden agenda” in bringing in the proposed legislation.
Raja, Sule and TMC’s Saugata Roy argued that the Bill should be referred to select committee for further examination.
Initiating the discussion on the bill, Congress MP from Tamil Nadu MK Vishnu Prasad said that while the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory and autonomous body, it is still under the control of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. He also said that the ministry does not provide funding to the institute.
“The government keeps talking about the independence of ICAI, where is the independence? The number of ICAI council members should exceed the number of government nominees so that a balance is met,” he said.
In the amendments, the government has proposed that the number of government nominees in the disciplinary committee of the ICAI be increased to three from the present two.
He further said that 10 years ago there was no government interference in the functioning of ICAI, then the law was amended to have two government nominees.
The ICAI disciplinary committee handles complaints and has three ICAI council members who are chartered accountants.
Referring to the Narendra Modi government as “OMG — Opaque Modi government”, Prasad accused the Centre of interfering in every institution of the country.
He further asked the ministry to go back to the drawing board and bring a comprehensive bill on the issue. He said that the Congress “strongly objected” to the bill.
The bill has proposed to have a non-Chartered Accountant (CA), non-cost accountant and non-company secretary as the presiding officer of the disciplinary committees of the respective apex institutes. Besides, the government has proposed that each committee should have three nominated members who are not a part of the particular institute concerned.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) had raised concerns about the proposal, while the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) had told the panel that it had no reservations about the manner of constituting the disciplinary committee.
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) was of the view that parameters for selecting the presiding officer and members of disciplinary committees and such restrictions should be specified through rules rather than through regulations.
Sule said appointing Corporate Affairs Secretary Chairman of the proposed coordination committee would lead to suppression of autonomy. She said let the professionals do their job and the government do theirs.
The interference of the government is attack on the autonomy of such professional institutions, she added.
Roy alleged that the government wants to take away the power of all professional bodies.
“First it happened in the Bill relating to National Medical Commission and now the same is being done in the case of Chartered Accountants,” Roy said, adding that too much power should not be given to the corporate affairs ministry.
Roy claimed that the government did not accept the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
The government has not gone by the recommendations of the standing committee which had stated that the autonomy of the institutions should not be taken way, he said.
Bhartruhari Mahtab of Biju Janata Dal said that a great feature of this bill is that provision has been made for time bound investigation in it.
Participating in the discussion, BJP MP Subhash Chanda Baheria said that it was wrong to imply that the ICAI will forgo its independence if the amendments are incorporated.
“The bill does not affect the autonomy of the institute. The three government nominees in the committee are also chosen from a panel recommended by the ICAI council members,” he said.
The corporate affairs ministry introduced the bill in Parliament last December whereby changes have been proposed to existing legislations governing the apex institutes of chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries.
Opposing the Bill, N K Premchandran (RSP) said the Bill proposes to bring affairs of these professional bodies under considerable scrutiny.
The conduct of professionals should be judged by professionals and not by bureaucrat, he said, adding, the provisions of the Bill will suppress the autonomy of these institutes rather than enhancing them.
Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant demanded that the Bill should be send to the Standing Committee for further consultation so that an informed view could be taken on the matter.
BSP’s Danish Ali accused the government of trying to nationalise the autonomous body ICAI which has worked well for over 70 years. Ali said this is not the correct approach and tomorrow the government may try to nationalise other autonomous and professional bodies like Bar Council.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by P N Sree Harsha | 
