CA exam paper postponed after question paper goof-up

A nationwide CA exam has been postponed after wrong question papers were distributed in a Mumbai-based college on Monday afternoon.

The Information Technology and Strategic Management (IT&SM) paper was accidentally handed to students instead of Auditing and Assurance paper at Mittal College, Malad. Now IT&SM paper, which was earlier to be held on Wednesday, has been rescheduled for May 24.

About 1.37 lakh students are appearing for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India's (ICAI) Intermediate (Integrated Professional Competence) Course exam this time.

According to reports, college exam supervisor Narendra Singhi and CA exam observer reached a branch of Bank of Baroda on Monday morning where the question papers were stored. The supervisor handed over the duplicate locker key to the bank manager who, in turn, asked his clerk to get the question paper packet of the day. The clerk handed over the wrong bundle. At about 1:30 pm, the bundles were opened and papers were distributed. Within 10 minutes, the error was caught and papers recalled.

The authorities then quickly collected the correct papers for Monday’s exam, which finally commenced at 3pm, an hour later than the scheduled time.