CA Certificate not matching with details on ICAI Portal as per UDIN; Delhi HC upholds disqualification by IRCTC

By: Admin
April 29, 2024
Categories: ICAI|News
4 Min Read

The Delhi High Court, presided over by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, has confirmed the disqualification based on the discrepancy between the CA certificate and the details on the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) website according to the Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN). The issue stemmed from the petitioner’s Chartered Accountant’s failure to include specific certified information in the UDIN certificate under the ‘Figures/Particulars’ section, leaving it empty and thus missing certified data in the UDIN certificate.

The petitioner had requested the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) to retract the disqualification email that led to the rejection of their bid. The petitioner argued that all necessary certificates from the CA were submitted in accordance with the NIT requirements and were correctly formatted, asserting their technical eligibility for the tender. The certificates had been endorsed by the Chartered Accountant with the UDIN, aligning with the tender’s stipulations.

However, the IRCTC did not accept the CA certificates and subsequently rejected the bid because the certified information by the CA was not visible in the UDIN certificates accessed from the ICAI portal.

The department highlighted that the UDIN system was instituted by the ICAI to combat the issuance of fraudulent certificates, making it obligatory for all certificates issued by Chartered Accountants.

It was pointed out that the certified information by the Chartered Accountant was missing in the UDIN certificate obtained from the ICAI website. It was noted that, in contrast, the certified information from Chartered Accountants for other bidders, who were technically approved, was correctly included in their respective UDIN certificates.

The purpose of UDIN, the court recognized, is to provide a mechanism for third parties, like the respondent and the tender authority, to online verify the authenticity of certificates issued by Chartered Accountants via the UDIN portal.

The court, in validating the IRCTC’s decision, concluded that disqualifying the petitioner’s technical bid because the certified information by the Chartered Accountant was unverifiable on the UDIN portal, was neither arbitrary nor unreasonable. The respondent had consistently disqualified any bidders whose Chartered Accountants did not list the certified information in the UDIN certificate.

Delhi HC – M/S Sunshine Caterers Private Limited Versus Union Of India [W.P.(C) 4628/2024 & CM APPL. 18999-19000/2024]