CAs are in a tizzy over SC order on misconduct outside professional sphere

The recent order by the apex court may lead to more such disciplinary action if any act by a chartered accountant is found to bring disrepute to the profession

Chartered accountants are in a tizzy following a recent Supreme Court order that upheld the right of the regulator to haul them up for misconduct, not related to professional work. This makes any act by a chartered accountant that brings disrepute to the profession, whether or not in the professional domain, open to disciplinary scrutiny and action. While the SC order strengthens the hands of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the body that regulates the profession, in cracking the whip against such misconduct, many in the CA fraternity feel the same benchmark should apply to other professions