The election of the Pune branch of the Western India Regional Council (WIRC) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has run into problems after some members filed a petition in the Shivajinagar civil court demanding a stay on it. The aggrieved members alleged that the governing body of the Pune chapter of WIRC has cancelled their nominations without any valid reasons.
The petition was filed on Tuesday. The hearing is on Wednesday. The election of the office-bearers of WIRC’s Pune chapter is slated for Thursday. The petition filed by Shripad Subhas Inamdar and Sandeep Shakarrao Dhoble Patil, both registered members with the association.
In the petition, the duo requested the court to issue directives that the elections be held after a month as per the guidelines formed by the ICAI, the central agency in New Delhi. “Our nominations have been rejected on grounds that the address of the proposer is not matching with the ICAI records. However, nowhere in the nomination form, it is mentioned that the ‘professional address’ as per the ICAI records should be filled in,” said Inamdar, whose candidature has been rejected.
The election will be held through a ballot system on the BMCC College campus. The Pune chapter has nearly 4,300 chartered accountant members. A letter in this regard has been sent to the ICAI officials in New Delhi. “In fact, the nomination form only requires ‘address’ of proposer/seconder to be filled up. There is no clarity whatsoever as to which address should be stated in the nomination form,” said Inamdar.
They said unlike the WIRC and central council elections, no cut-off dates were mentioned for the Pune branch polls for the verification of the addresses.
In all, 17 people submitted the nomination papers, of which 10 names have been short-listed for the election.
The complainants have alleged that nominations of three of the candidates were rejected. Moreover, the statutory period of 10 days has not been left between the last date of the acceptance of nomination papers and a special general meeting held by the association. They said Pramod Shinkte, who has been appointed the returning officer, should not be allowed to conduct the election.
Milind Gramopadhay, chairman of ICAI Pune, said, “We have not received any intimation from the court on the issue. Moreover, it is mandatory that the information furnished during nominations match with the information available with the association at the regional and central level. In case, it does not match, nominations are bound to be cancelled.”
He said the regional and central council elections of the ICAI were held on December 4 and 5 respectively, after which a directory of the registered paid users was released. The directory has the main database of all information pertaining to the members
