Appellate Authority reduced the period of name removal by one year of CA found guilty of misconduct considering age and fine
ABCAUS Case Law Citation:
ABCAUS 2909 (2019) (05) AA
Disciplinary Committee of ICAI, in terms of the provisions of Section 21B(3) of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 read with Rules 18(17) and 19(1) of the Chartered Accountants (Procedure of Investigations of Professional and Other Misconduct and Conduct of Cases) Rules, 2007, had held CA. Purushottam Shivdas Sakhalkar (Membership No. 035808), 4C, Jape Chawl, RR Thakur Road, Jogeshwari –E, Mumbai as guilty of Professional Misconduct falling within the meaning of Clauses (5),(6), (7) & (8) of Part I of the Second Schedule to the said Act.
Consequently, the name of CA Purushottam Shivdas Sakhalkar was removed from the Register of Members for a period of two years with effect from 7th September, 2018. and was also imposed with a penalty of Rs. 50,000/-.
This entire case was based upon statement made by the appellant before SFIO wherein he had admitted, having not factually audited the books of account of the company of which he was an Auditor but merely signed the papers.
Aggrieved by the order, the said CA (the appellant) filed an appeal before the Appellate Authority.
The appellant made a statement that he was not disputing the facts of the case and admitted his guilt, but only prayed that the sentence awarded to him be reduced, keeping into consideration that he had already paid fine of Rs. 50,000/- and suffered his name removal from the register of members for a period of seven and half months out of two years punishment as awarded by the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute.
The Appellate Authority considering the age of the appellant and in the interest of justice opined that it will be appropriate to reduce the punishment of removal of the name of the appellant to the extent for a period of one year from the date of Gazette Notification and payment of Rs. 50,000/- which stood already paid.
The Appellate Authority accordingly modified the sentence awarded to the appellant and directed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to restore the name of the appellant in the register of members after completion of one year from the date of his initial removal on the appellant making an application before the Institute requesting the restoration of his name in the register of members.
