Chartered accountancy is acknowledged as a professional qualification all across the world. Different professional accounting bodies would have control over it around the world that comprises including the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
In India, the qualification of a Chartered Accountant is comparable to a postgraduate degree. This is due to the fact that the CA is a professional course that integrates academic education with practical training, identical to other postgraduate courses, and is governed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the world’s second-biggest unified professional organization.
The CA certification has also been recognized as equal to a postgraduate degree by the University Grants Commission (UGC), India’s statutory authority obligated to govern higher education. The UGC said in a circular released in 2019 that the CA certificate is comparable to a postgraduate degree in Commerce, Accountancy, and Business Administration for the objective of admission to a PhD at the institution.
UGC Public Notice regarding CA/CS/ICWA Qualification to be treated comparably to PG Degree
In India, for diverse purposes, the qualification of a CA would be identical to the postgraduate degree, as made by the University Grants Commission (UGC) Circular.
CA Qualification will be deemed as identical to a Master’s Degree, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India had remarked, in line with the UGC Circular dated March 15, 2021.
The press release would have been issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), announcing the equivalency: https://www.icai.org/post/chartered-accountancy-qualification-equivalent-to-post-graduate-degree
CA Amil Kumar, a skilled Chartered Accountant with a CA degree from the Institute of chartered accountants of India (ICAI), wants to become a lawyer had recently approached the Kerala High Court, dissatisfied with the rejection of LLB admission by a College affiliated to the University of Calicut, stating that “CA is not a graduation.”
The college’s administrators claimed that it counts as post-graduation and instructed CA Amil to get a certificate of equivalence from the relevant university. The CA actively sought an equivalence certificate from the University of Calicut, but they informed me that it was not feasible to obtain one proving that the CA degree is comparable to graduation.
In answer to the questions, the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations, Kerala, the regulatory body of the Government of Kerala mentioned that it is obligatory that the CA must have a degree (graduation) under the 10+2+3 system of education i.e. 3-year degree needed to be obtained post passing out from the Higher Secondary (+2) School.
CA has approached the Kerala High Court via a writ petition on dissatisfaction with the admission cancellation to the three-year LLB course to the Unitary LLB Degree Programme at the University of Calicut.
On behalf of the Chartered Accountant, the Single Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran that heard Advocates M P Priyeshkumar and Divya T P permitted the writ petition, leaving the liberty to the applicant to make the relevant application to the Bar Council of India asking that he would be admitted to the course of LLB on the qualification of his degree of Chartered Accountancy, in the order on 23rd December 2022.
Within the time frame specified in the High Court Order, the CA mailed a registered letter to the address of the Bar Council of India (BCI). Despite attempts to contact the BCI in accordance with the directives of the Kerala High Court, the Bar Council of India has declined to respond to the petitioner’s plea, which wants closure on the subject. On April 4, 2023, the petitioner sent an email to the Bar Council of India (BCI).
The order of the Kerala High Court has been ignored by the Bar Council of India (BCI) which specifies that the case needs to be disposed of via the BCI “after affording him an opportunity of being heard – either physically or online-thus culminating in an appropriate order within a period of three months thereafter.”
It is unreasonable to ignore professionals who pursue higher education in order to broaden their areas of expertise and practice.
Although the CA certification is not a typical graduation degree, it is obvious from the abovementioned that the UGC circular and the ICAI regard it to be comparable to a postgraduate degree. Despite possessing a higher qualification, the Chartered Accountant is refused admission and now has a chance to be heard despite a court order requiring the same on minor technicalities.
A chartered accountant mentioned that “Ultimately, it is very unfair to those in pursuit of professional knowledge, that the Bar Council of India refuses to hear the matter, apart from contempt of the Court order of the Honourable Kerala High Court”,
“I hope the BCI takes up the matter expeditiously and gives a final decision to the question whether qualification of a CA can be considered Equivalent to a Graduation or Degree for the purposes of 3 Year LLB Course Admission”, he counted.
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