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The High Court of Delhi ruled that the Board of Discipline under the Chartered Accountants Act of 1949 can proceed against a Chartered Accountant for acts of sexual harassment committed by him beyond his professional capacity. The judgment was passed in the case of Lalit Agrawal vs Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and other. It was a writ petition filed by CA, Lalit Agarwal against whom disciplinary actions were initiated after noting that a charge sheet was filed by the police against him in relation to a crime of sexual harassment.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru disagreed with the contention of the petitioner and declared that Clause (2) of Part-IV of the First Schedule to the Act is wide in its amplitude and would include within its scope and ambit, any conduct that would tend to be injurious to the reputation of the profession or the Institute.
The judge proceeded to observe that if it is observed that a Chartered Accountant was guilty of having offended the modesty of a woman and/or other crimes related to moral turpitude, it would not be inappropriate for the Disciplinary Board to conclude that the behaviour did, in fact, diminish the dignity of the profession.
In the instant case, the Court placed reliance on the recent Supreme Court (SC) judgment passed last November which upheld disciplinary action against a CA, who had committed irregularities in relation to the transfer of shares in a company. In this previous case against a CA, the SC discarded the Ca’s contention that the alleged misconduct cannot be a reason for the holding of disciplinary action under the Chartered Accountants Act of 1949 since it was not related to professional work. The SC confirmed the finding of the Board of Discipline that the alleged action made him not fit for being a CA.
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