The Delhi High Court upholds ICAI’s decision dismissing a complaint alleging Professional Misconduct by CA as a Report related to verification of books has passed the test of judicial scrutiny.
A complaint was filed by the Appellant, Wholesale Trading Services before the ICAI, alleging professional misconduct against Respondent No.3, appointed by the Karnataka High Court, for verification of the documents, etc.
Complaint was dismissed by the Disciplinary Committee of ICAI on 16.12.2020 and the said order was challenged before the learned Single Judge of this Court, in a writ petition being W.P.(C) 376/2021. The writ petition was dismissed and from the said order, the present appeal emanates. vii. Separately, a Recall application was filed by an entity called ‘India Awake for Transparency’ before the Karnataka High Court seeking recall of the order 26.03.2015, by which the Scheme of merger was sanctioned.
Recall application was dismissed by the Single Judge of the Karnataka High Court on 17.03.2021 holding therein that since the Applicant was not a party to the main petition, it had no locus standi to file a review application.
The division bench headed by the Chief Justice and Justice Jyoti Singh held that if the report had anything objectionable or was false and contrary to the record of the Company or overlooked any fraudulent transactions, as alleged by the Appellant, surely, the Karnataka High Court would have taken cognizance of the same and it would not have been accepted. In this view, the Disciplinary Committee of ICAI had, in our view, treaded on the right path by dismissing the complaint.
“There is no merit in the appeal and the same is accordingly dismissed along with all pending applications with costs of Rs.50,000/- to be deposited by the Appellant with the Delhi State Legal Service Authority within eight weeks from today. The aforesaid amount shall be utilized for the programme ‘Access to Justice’,” the could while upholding the impugned order said.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.
