The Supreme Court clarified its decision in the case of Madras Bar Association, which invalidated the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021. The Court determined that Chartered Accountants (CAs) are not required to have 25 years of experience to qualify as technical members of Tribunals, including the Income Tax Appellate Tribunals.

This clarification was issued by the bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran, following a request made by the counsel representing the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The counsel highlighted that the prior judgment had annulled the requirement for advocates to be at least 50 years old for Tribunal appointments and sought equality for CAs based on similar reasoning.

In response to this submission, the bench added the following to its ruling from November 19:

"It was argued on behalf of the Institute of Chartered Accountants that the stipulation of 25 years of experience for CAs to be appointed as technical members is also arbitrary. It was noted that such a requirement would restrict CAs from consideration until they reach the age of 50. Similar to the ruling concerning advocates who also faced a minimum age stipulation of 50 years, it was indicated that a requirement for lawyers with 25 years of practice has already been deemed invalid and unconstitutional by this Court."

The bench reviewed the argument that such a provision for CAs should be dismantled. Agreeing with this perspective, the Court asserted:

"We concur with the submissions made on behalf of the ICAI. Should this provision be upheld, it would mean that CAs could only enter service after turning 50 years old. This Court has previously ruled that similar criteria may not be tenable concerning advocates, and the same rationale should be applicable here—the CAs must be eligible for appointment as technical members."

"Consequently, we declare that the requirement mandating CAs to possess a minimum of 25 years of experience for such appointments is also unconstitutional."

The Court further remarked that the Union government should consider this observation while formulating new legislation in alignment with the present decision.