Plea In Supreme Court For Seeking Directions To 'Institute of Cost Accountants of India' For Using Acronym ICOAI

Plea In Supreme Court For Seeking Directions To 'Institute of Cost Accountants of India' For Using Acronym ICOAI

A Special Leave Petition (SLP) has been filed by Chartered Accountant (CA) Mr. V. Venkata Sivakumar – a gold medalist in graduation, a CA practitioner for 30 years, a holder of Master's degree in Constitutional Law, and an accomplished teacher who has trained many CA students

The petitioner has filed the SLP before the Top Court challenging the final common order dated 9 November 2020 passed by the High Court of Madras (HC) stating it to be unjust and improper. The petitioner being a teacher and a CA by profession is very much concerned about the well-being of the profession and students.

Before 2012 the Institute of Cost Accountants of India was known as the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI), a statutory body established under the Act of Parliament 1959. The Act was amended by the Parliament in 2012 and its name was changed to Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICOAI).

The petitioner contended that this misled the public and students, as the Institute of Cost Accountants of India started representing itself as ICAI, an acronym which belongs to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

A writ petition was filed before the High Court (HC) for seeking injunctive direction against the Institute of Cost Accountants of India to not encroach into the domains earmarked for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and mandamus direction to use the acronym ICOAI to its name. The HC dismissed the writ petition.

The petitioner thereby moved the Apex Court and prayed that the Institute of Cost Accountants of India must not use the acronym of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and use the acronym ICOAI given by the Parliament and being used by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India till date while communicating with the executive pending disposal of this present Appeal.