The controversial Rs 100 crore land deal that had raised questions on adherence ofcorporate governance norms at the Institute ofChartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has finally been quashed. This may be the first instance of a decision taken by an ICAI president being struck down by the central council, the governing body of ICAI.
The apex body of financial regulators is presently headed by Nagpur-based chartered accountantJaideep Shah. He was actively involved in getting approval for the proposal to buy 2 lakh square feet of property at Luxora Township at Pipla on the city's outskirts for Rs 100 crore. Shah, whose term ends in February, also maintained secrecy in the entire transaction, with even many council members unaware of the decision. There were plans to build a centre of excellence, basically a soft-skill training institute, here.
Such a price for the remote location raised many eyebrows and a fact-finding committee with six members was formed. On Wednesday, the committee's report was put up before the central council, which has cancelled the deal.
TOI could only get a terse confirmation of the decision from a member of the council, since the meeting continued till late in the evening.
This was the biggest property transaction in ICAI's history, and would have taken away almost 16% of the institute's corpus. Some chartered accountants have stressed on the need for action against Shah too. Till a week ago, the fact finding committee was divided on the issue. Presently, the committee has only pointed out serious irregularities in the deal. A decision on action had not been taken till late in the evening.
Arun Giri, a Pune-based CA, who had also strongly opposed the Nagpur deal, said the decision has given a clear message that ICAI members will have to strictly adhere to corporate governancenorms, and even the president cannot be above that. The very manner in which the deal was executed led to suspicion that there is no need to buy a Rs 100 crore property. MR Venkatesh, a CA from Chennai, said this is a welcome step but should be followed up with proceedings under Prevention of Corruption Act against all those involved.
Kailas Jogani, a chartered accountant from Nagpur, said that such a questionable deal should have been nipped at the initial stage itself to avoid embarrassment to ICAI. (Times of India)
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