About 7,000 Indian students registered with the Chartered Financial Analyst institute are unlikely to appear in their examinations scheduled for June 3 as the All India Council for Technical Education has issued a notice to the institute asking it to stop its operations in India with immediate effect.
The CFA institute, on its part, is planning to move the courts to resolve the issue before June 3 on the ground that it does not require AICTE's permission to operate in India since it is not a technical institution.
It has sent mails to all the 7,000 students (first, second and third-year) asking them to continue with their preparations, in the hope that the issue would be resolved before June 3.
The CFA institute is a 60-year-old body with a presence in 134 countries. In 1997, it filed a case against Hyderabad-based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI), which had launched its certification programme for financial analysts in 1985, over the use of CFA in its name.
In August 2006, the Delhi High Court issued an interim injunction order asking ICFAI to drop the word CFA from its name by the end of the academic year (May 2007).
In March 2007, ICFAI filed a petition in the Guwahati High Court alleging that AICTE and the University Grants Commission were not taking any action against the CFA institute for allegedly running "an unapproved technical programme in India".
Acting on the petition, the Guwahati High Court directed AICTE to look into the matter, following which AICTE issued a regulation notice to CFA institute, asking it to cease operations with immediate effect.
Even as it prepares to move the courts against the AICTE notice, the institute has decided to give its students three options in case nothing else works: Cancel their examination enrollment for June 2007 and get a refund of the enrollment fees, write the examination in December (assuming the verdict goes in favour of the CFA institute) or take the examination on June 3 at a location outside India.
The locations outside India where students can take the examinations are Kathmandu, Dhaka, Colombo, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.
However, if they choose to write their papers at these locations, students will have to bear the expenses of travel, boarding and lodging.
LEGAL WRANGLE
Over trademark
1997: CFA institute files case against ICFAI over use of the word CFA
August 2006: The Delhi High Court issues an interim injunction order asking ICFAI to drop the word CFA from its name by the end of its academic year (May 2007)
Over operations
March 2007: ICFAI files a petition in the Guwahati High Court alleging that AICTE and UGC are not taking action against the CFA institute, which is running an unapproved technical programme in India; Guwahati High Court directs AICTE to look into the matter
May 2007: AICTE issues a regulation notice to CFA institute and asks it to cease operations with immediate effect
