ICAI announces Empanelment of Members as Observers for CA Foundation, Intermediate, Final and PQC exams

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has announced the empanelment of members as observers at examination centres for Chartered Accountancy Foundation, Intermediate Final and Post Qualification Course (PQC) examinations for November/December -2023.

Eligibility criteria for empanelment:

Members who fulfill the following criteria are eligible for empanelment, to act as Observers.

1. He/she should not be more than 65 years of age as on the date of empanelment, i.e.1st August, 2023.
2. His/her name should have been borne on the Register of Members as on 1st May 2021 and continues to be so;
3. Neither he/she nor his/her relatives* or dependant* is / will be appearing in the ensuing Chartered Accountants Examinations for students / Post – Qualification Course Examinations in November/December 2023 in any examination centres in India or Abroad. However, applying or appearance in ISA – AT will not be considered a disability for observership for CA Examinations.

[* the term “relative” or “dependant” for the purpose shall include, in relation to an individual, the wife, husband, son, daughter-in-law, daughter, son-in-law, grandson, granddaughter, brother, brother’s wife, brother’s son, brother’s daughter, sister, sister’s husband, sister’s son, sister’s daughter, wife’s brother, wife’s sister and husband’s brother and husband’s sister]

4. He/she is not coaching students for any of the examinations / test conducted by the Council of the Institute in any institutions / organization including Regional Councils / Branches of the Institute and also private coaching.
5. He/she has not been convicted by any court of Law and no disciplinary proceedings are pending against him/her, either by the ICAI / Disciplinary Directorate or by any other organization, both in India or abroad.
6. He/she is not associated with the Institute as an elected/co-opted member of the Council / Regional Council / Managing Committee of any Branch of the ICAI.
7. He/she shall abide by the Guidelines for Observer and / or any other instructions.
8. He/she is not a covid patient / or having symptoms of the Covid and will not take any assignment of Observer’s duty if detected on duty dates.

Honorarium

The honorarium of ` 3000/- per day / per session and ` 350/- as conveyance reimbursement for ‘A’ class cities and ` 250/- for other cities per day (to cover cost of local travel) will be paid.

All other cities are ‘B’ class cities.

Duties of Observer:

A member will be allotted duties in the city of his professional address only as per Institute’s records. (To avoid any hardship in allotment of Observer assignment, Members are advised to update their professional Address/City in ICAI through the SSP Portal in accordance with the examination cities, if not updated)

The main duty of the observer is to ensure that the Question Paper Packets meant for the day of the exam, with the right code of the day are collected from the bank, (where they are kept under safe custody) opened and distributed to the candidates. Accordingly, Observer is required to be present in the assigned branch of the Bank/Examination Centre from the time when the code key is opened in the bank till the conclusion of the examination, i.e. till the answer books are pooled, reconciled, packed and handed over to the designated courier agency (including answer sheet of physically handicapped candidates, if any) for dispatch to the Examination Department.

Once the duties are assigned for acting as an Observer in a particular examination centre, he/she should attend to the said assignment and submit his/her report on a daily basis in the prescribed format at the Portal immediately after the conclusion of the exam. Bill is required to be submitted immediately after completion of all the Examination.

In case any member is unable to perform his / her assignment, the same may be declined in the portal and communicated to the Examination Department well in advance, so that alternative arrangements can be made.

If a member neither informs the Examination Department nor discharges the duties assigned, he/she would be liable for such action under the provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act 1949 and the Regulations framed thereunder, as deemed fit.

Kindly note that giving false/misleading declarations regarding conflict of interest/ involvement in coaching and any unauthorized absence from the Exam Centre during the exams will lead to action under disciplinary provisions in accordance with the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder.

How to empanel:

A member who fulfills the above-mentioned eligibility criteria, desirous of empaneling himself/herself for the assignment, may do so, online at http://observers.icaiexam.icai.org. Applications by any other mode will not be entertained. The activity schedule of the portal is as under:

The announcement document also includes the details of the examination centres in different regions.

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