New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday accused the government of interfering in an autonomous institution by bringing in amendments to a law on cost and chartered accountants and said that the move will infringe on the independence of the apex body.
Initiating the discussion on The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021, 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.
The bill was moved in Lok Sabha for consideration and passage on Tuesday.
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 ten 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.
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.
The Lok Sabha had referred the bill to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance for scrutiny. PTI ASG ZMN ZMN
