The court emphasized the importance of considering the relevant regulations and syllabus modifications in determining the eligibility of a candidate's previous examination results for the final examination.

Vibhu Bakhru, J.

The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, praying that directions be issued to the respondents to issue a certificate certifying that the petitioner has passed the final examination of the Cost Accountants of India. Respondent no.1 is the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) and has been constituted under the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959.

2. ICAI conducts an academic course for acquiring the qualification of a cost accountant. The said course is divided into two examinations, namely, intermediate and final. Both the examinations consist of two groups (referred to as "Stages"). The intermediate examination comprises of Stage-I and Stage-II and the final examination comprises of Stage-III and Stage-IV. Each of the group consists a number of papers and a candidate is required not only to achieve the passing marks in each of the papers comprising of a group, but is also required to achieve the specified aggregate marks to pass a group.

3. Students are granted registration for a specified period within which a student is required to clear both the examinations (intermediate and final). In terms of the Costs and Works Accountants Regulations, 1959 (hereafter "the Regulations"), a student can be granted re-registration after the expiry of the final registration.

4. The petitioner was registered with ICAI (then known as "Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India") in October, 1996. The said registration was granted after the petitioner had completed the foundation course for being enrolled for the certification course of a Cost Accountant.

5. The petitioner appeared for the first group (Stage-I) of the intermediate examination in June, 1997 comprising of four papers in and cleared the same.

6. The petitioner passed the second stage of the intermediate examination held in December, 1998. Accordingly, ICAI issued a certificate dated 18.03.1999, certifying that the petitioner had completed his intermediate examination held in December, 1998.

7. The petitioner then appeared for the final examination (Stage- III) in December 1999 and cleared the same.

8. Thereafter, the petitioner's registration with ICAI expired sometime in the year 2002-03. Accordingly, the petitioner obtained a de novo registration (Registration No. RSW/77703) of the ICAI for clearing the last group (Stage-IV) of the final examination. However, despite his best efforts, the petitioner could not clear the second group (Stage-IV) of the final examination. After several years, the petitioner once again applied for a de novo registration on 05.01.2015 and was granted a de novo registration for the second time (Registration No. 24962008566). It is stated that at the material time, ICAI conducted the course for the final examination under the syllabus as prescribed in the year 2008 (Syllabus 2008) and the new syllabus as prescribed in 2012 (Syllabus 2012). The petitioner opted to take the final examination (Stage-IV) by opting for the Syllabus 2012. He appeared in the examination held in June 2015 but could not clear the same. Thereafter, the petitioner once again appeared for the final group (Stage-IV) of the final examination in June, 2016 and cleared the same.

9. The petitioner thereafter approached ICAI for issuance of the certificate for clearing the final examination, however, the same was declined by ICAI for the reason that the petitioner had not cleared Stage-III of the final examination. According to ICAI, the petitioner had cleared the first Group (Stage-III) of the final examination conducted in respect of the syllabus that was prescribed prior to 2002 and, therefore, the same could no longer be counted as clearing Stage- III of the final examination.

10. In the aforesaid context, the principal issue to be addres