The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Thursday said certain “operational problems” have cropped up in the conduct of the exams in July and August owing to the huge increase in COVID-19 cases, especially in Maharashtra.

Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, heading a three-judge Bench, reminded senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan, for the ICAI, of the court’s premonition that the ground situation was constantly changing. “We had said the situation was dynamic than static,” he said.

Mr. Srinivasan said, “If it is possible to hold the exam, we will do it.” He urged the court for more time to assess the situation. The court adjourned the hearing to July 10.

On June 29, the court asked the ICAI to come up with a fresh draft notification allowing students to opt out of the exam without running the risk of being marked as having failed in the papers they missed out owing to the pandemic. It also asked the institute to permit students to change their exam centres “till the end”. The court gave these directives because of the changing situation, with more containment zones declared nationwide.

The court also asked the ICAI to follow the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the safe conduct of the exams.

Mr. Srinivasan said there were 500 examination centres. He said 3.46 lakh students were taking the exams scheduled between July 29 and August 16. Of these, 2.89 lakh had opted in and 52,000 opted out.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the India Wide Parents Association, represented by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, which primarily challenged the ICAI’s ‘opt-out’ scheme.