Delhi High Court reserves order on CFAI

By IANS

New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Wednesday reserved its order on the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) decision to ban Indian operations of the US-based Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFAI).


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After hearing arguments from two sides, Justice B.D. Ahmed said he would pronounce the order later.

On May 18, the AICTE, a government body regulating technical and specialised education in India, had served the notice asking CFAI to cease its operations in India as it was "flouting regulations".

The CFAI filed a petition in the high court seeking a stay on the notice, to be allowed to conduct the examinations starting June 3. About 7,000 students would have to go to Kathmandu, Dhaka, Colombo, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates to appear in the exams.

On a complaint filed by the Hyderabad-based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India, the AICTE had asked the CFA Institute to stop its operations in India, as it had not taken the council's clearance.

The CFAI is a correspondence course and had been operating in India since 1987.

On Monday, the Agartala bench of the Gauhati High Court, in an interim order, upheld the notice sent by the regulatory body for technical education asking the foreign institute conducting the course to immediately stop all operations in India.

Upholding the ban, the high court ruled, "CFAI is hereby restrained not to indulge in any such activities which may go or is treated to be contrary to provisions of the law. All admissions, registrations and other activities including examination being conducted shall have no value and force in the eyes of law."

Caught in this crossfire are the 7,000-odd students who have paid $1,800 (around Rs.74,000) for the programme.

Students who clear the CFA examinations are mostly employed as financial analysts by investment banks and broking houses. This year, more students from India will appear in the examination than from either the United Kingdom or Canada.

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