As a measure of relief to those appearing for group I and II examinations of the chartered accountancy course, the company affairs ministry has allowed five additional attempts till December 2007 to students enrolled before 2001.
The move will benefit 515 students who appeared in the May 2005 examination. "For candidates due to appear in the examination held in November, the number of students who will benefit runs into thousands," said Kamlesh Vikamsey, president, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
A few months ago, the company affairs ministry had approved a single additional attempt instead of the five recommended by the ICAI.
Since then, the ministry has received a large number of representations, asking for an increase in the number of attempts. The original examination scheme allowed a student five attempts.
As per the representations, thousands of students who had already put in at least three-and-a-half years of studies in the chartered accountancy course for group I and at least four years for group II were being put through undue hardship.
Further, a sizable number of students who had originally been registered for the erstwhile intermediate examination and joined the present examination scheme (thereby spending more than five years studying) would have had to quit the course.
"Company Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta met delegations of students in Delhi and Bangalore and decided to grant the additional attempts," a ministry official said.