'Govt infringing on independence of cost and chartered accountants'

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 a 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.

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.