The Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) has filled the vacancies in the Appellate Authority for Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants, bringing relief to hundreds of professionals who were unable to access this judicial forum due to posts, including the Chairperson, remaining vacant.
Justice Suresh Kumar Gupta, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, has been appointed as Chairperson of this Appellate Authority, which was set up to hear appeals against the orders issued by the Disciplinary Committees of the three professional institutes —CA Institute, Cost Accountants Institute and Company Secretaries Institute.
MCA has also appointed Rakesh Mohan, Sandip Garg, Wholetime Member, IBBI and Amit Anand Apte as Members (government nominees) of the Appellate Authority, sources said.
The Appellate Authority has been defunct in the last several months due to vacancies not filling. Chartered Accountants —especially those from the big four— facing disciplinary orders in recent days had to approach the High Court for relief and got their matter stayed.
Experts said that with the Appellate Authority now fully constituted, all pending matters before the High Court will be transferred back to the Authority, experts said.
The Appellate Authority has been set up in accordance with Section 22A(1) of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, Section 22A of the Company Secretaries Act, 1980, and Section 22A of the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959.