The Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI) has notified the empanelment of members to act as observers at the examination centres for the CA examinations January, 2025.
It is proposed to empanel members to act as Observers for the forthcoming January-2025 Chartered Accountants Examinations.
The Foundation and Intermediate Examination shall be held from 11th January to 21st January 2025 (except 20th January 2025).
The Examination Committee in its 648th Meeting held on 8th and 9th January 2024 among others has decided that there should be a cooling off period for one attempt after three (3) consecutive attempts for Observership duties. The same is applicable w.e.f. May 2024 with retrospective details.
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Eligibility Criteria For Empanelment – CA Examinations
Members who fulfil the various criteria are eligible for empanelment, to act as Observers.
- He/she should not be more than 65 years of age as on the date of empanelment, i.e.25th October 2024.
- His/her name should have been borne on the Register of Members as on 1st July 2022 and continues to be so.
- 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 January 2025 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]
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- He/she shall abide by the Guidelines for Observer and / or any other instructions.
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.
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 daily basis in the prescribed format at the Portal immediately after the conclusion of 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 arrangement 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 declaration 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.
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