The Karnataka High Court.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: In an interim order, the High Court of Karnataka has restrained the Institute of Chartered Tax Practitioners India (ICTPI), Bengaluru, from enrolling candidates for postgraduate diploma courses in Taxation, Professional Skill Qualification, Recognition for Prior Learning and others in relation to tax practice or otherwise.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order on a petition filed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
The court also restrained the institute from issuing any licence to any person authorising or certifying that person to be fit to practice as an IT practitioner, GST practitioner, custom broker or the like. It also barred the institute from enrolling any person or body as affiliates, associates, fellows, honorary and academic for the purpose of offering any courses relating to tax law and related courses or for issuance of any licences, certificates or the like, until the next hearing on December 9.
The ICAI contended that the ICTP is misleading the public by offering PG diploma in taxation through Medhavi Skills University, Sikkim, even though no such degree or PG diploma was recognised in the field of taxation.
The certificate courses offered in Professional Skills Qualification and Recognition of Prior Learning are also not recognised courses by the Management and Entrepreneurship and Professional Skills Council (MEPSC) and the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), respectively, the ICAI stated.
According to the ICAI, the ICTPI has independently prescribed eligibility for its unauthorised course where a candidate possessing the qualification of a CA/CMA/CS Intermediate with three years of experience in accounting and taxation field can enroll into the programme for a course in taxation.
The name of the institute resembles the petitioner institute and offers certification courses and diplomas in the area of taxation, which is the exclusive domain of the petitioner institute, the petition further said.
The court also ordered notices to the MEPSC, the NCVET, and Medhavi Skills University.