New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS): The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it cannot conduct the CA exam slated between November 21 to December 14 online, as suggested by some candidates against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna asked the ICAI to publish on its website the steps taken for students' safety.

Disposing of the plea seeking safety precautions for students taking the exams, the bench noted that students who appear for professional exams should not ask for concessions. It also sought detailed SOP for the examinees in the upcoming CA exams.

Senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan, representing the ICAI, said that they do not have any isolation room as examination centres, and as per the direction of the top court in the last hearing suggestions given by advocate Bansuri Swaraj, representing the petitioners, have been examined.

Citing a suggestion pertaining to conduct the exams online, the ICAI submitted before the top court that the exam tests the analytical capabilities of the examinees, and the exam pattern has descriptive answer and tick marks, therefore it is not possible to hold it online.

The top court told Swaraj that petitioners should be reasonable while making demands and asked her how can online exams be allowed when descriptive answers are required.

"How can this be allowed? Just because courts are allowing many things, you cannot keep on asking what you want," it said.

The plea had alleged that the examination will be in violation of Centre's guidelines which prohibits congregations of more than 100 persons at an academic institution.

The petitioners had argued that no steps have been taken by the authorities with respect to safety of examinees and no safety guidelines have been issued by ICAI.