1. Although the facts in these two writ petitions are slightly different, the questions involved are more or less similar. Both Petitioners, being the members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (`ICAI'), i.e. the Respondent No. 1 in both the petitions seek to challenge a prima facie opinion dated 17th September 2009 arrived at by the ICAI and the disciplinary proceedings that have commenced consequent thereto. Both Petitioners seek a direction to the ICAI to keep the respective disciplinary proceedings against them in abeyance till the conclusion of the criminal cases against each of them. Factual Background

2. The Petitioner in Writ Petition (C) 2505 of 2010, Mr. Talluri Srinivas (`Srinivas') is a Chartered Accountant by profession and a member of the ICAI since 1990. Srinivas was a partner with M/s Price Waterhouse (`PW'), a firm of Chartered Accountants registered with the ICAI. In the year 2000, PW were appointed as the statutory auditors of Satyam Computer Services Limited (`SCSL'). While the statutory audits of SCSL for the years 2001 to March 2007 were conducted and the reports were signed by Mr. Subramani Gopalkrishnan (`Gopalkrishnan') (the Petitioner in Writ Petition (C) 5352 of 2010), the statutory audit for the quarters ending on 30th June 2007 and 30th September 2008 were conducted and signed by Srinivas.

3. On 7th January 2009, Mr. B. Ramalinga Raju, the then Chairman of SCSL wrote a letter to his Board of Directors in which inter alia he disclosed that the balance sheet of SCSL as on 30th September 2008 carried inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances of Rs. 5,040/- crores (as against Rs. 5361 crore reflected in the books) and accrued non-existent interest of Rs. 376 crores, an understated liability of Rs. 1,230 crores on account of funds arranged by him and an overstated debtors position of Rs. 490 crores (as against Rs. 2651 crores reflected in the books). He also disclosed that for the September quarter, the company had reported a revenue of Rs. 2,700/- crores and an operating margin of Rs. 649 crores (24% of revenues) as against the actual revenue of Rs. 2,112 crores and an actual operating margin of Rs. 61 crores (3% revenues). This had resulted in artificial cash and bank balances going up by Rs. 588 crores in the Second Quarter alone. Mr. Raju tendered his resignation as the Chairman of SCSL and stated that he was prepared to subject himself to the law of the land and face the consequences thereof.

4. On 10th January 2009, the ICAI wrote a letter to M/s Price Waterhouse, Bangalore (PW, Bangalore) referring to the letter dated 7th January 2009 addressed by Mr. Raju to the Board of Directors of SCSL. It was stated by the ICAI that from the perusal of the said letter of Mr. Raju and the newspaper reports, it emerged that the audit figures for the years 2004-05 till the quarter ending on 30th September 2008 had been certified by PW, Bangalore as reflecting the true and fair picture of the accounts, which was now admitted even by the Chairman of SCSL to be incorrect. This meant that the PW, Bangalore “had failed to carry out necessary checks which are required while undertaking the audit of the financial statements and certifying the quarterly results of the company.” ICAI alleged that the PW, Bangalore had violated the accounting principles while auditing/ certifying the accounts/quarterly results of SCSL for the aforementioned years/Quarters; that in spite of the aforestated irregularities/manipulations in the financial statements, PW, Bangalore had stated that financial statements together with the notes thereon gave a true and fair view; that PW, Bangalore had failed to disclose material facts which were not disclosed in financial statements of SCSL; that it had failed to report material mis-statement known to it as statutory auditors, which appeared in the financial statements of SCSL. It was thus alleged that PW, Bangalore did not exercise due diligence and was grossly