P D DINAKARAN, J.

1. Chartered Accountants Study Circle, the petitioners in W.P. Nos. 12631 and 12479 of 1999 as well as the Society of Auditors, the petitioners in W.P. Nos. 12480 and 12630 of 1999, are societies registered under the Societies Registration Act, bearing Regn. Nos. 68 of 1980 and 6/1932-33, respectively.

2. Petitioners in W.P. Nos. 12479 and 12480 of 1999 seek for a writ of declaration to declare the form of application for multipurpose empanelment as published in the Journal of Institute of Chartered Accountants, June 1999, pages 74-106 issued by the first respondent as ultra vires the provisions of Chapter VII of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. Chapter X of the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988, the articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India insofar as the petitioners are concerned.

3. The petitioners in W.P. Nos. 12630 and 12631 of 1999 seek a writ of declaration to declare the form of empanelment to the office of the first respondent therein as published in the Journal of Institute of Chartered Accountants, June 1999, pages 65-72, read with notice issued in the newsletter of the Southern India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Vol. 25, Part I, 1-7-1999 at page 7 issued by the first respondent as ultra vires the provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. Chapter X of the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988, articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 insofar as the petitioners are concerned.

4. The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (the Act) was enacted to make provisions for the regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountants and for that purpose to establish an Institute of Chartered Accountants (the Institute).

4.1 The following provisions of the Act are relevant to be mentionedThe terms Chartered Accountant, Council, Institute, Holder of Restricted Certificate and Register are defined as follows:

"(b) Chartered Accountant means a person who is a member of the Institute;

(c) Council means the Council of the Institute;

(a) Holder of a Restricted Certificate means a person holding a permanent or temporary restricted certificate granted by a State Government under the Restricted Certificates Rules, 1952;

(e) Institute means the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India constituted under this Act;

(f) ** ** **

(g) Register means the Register of Members maintained under this Act;"

4.2 As per section 2(2), a member of the Institute shall be deemed to be in practice when individually or in partnership with Chartered Accountants in practice. He, in consideration of remuneration received or to be received, (i) engages himself in the practice of accountancy; or (ii) offers to perform or performs services involving the auditing or verification of financial transactions, books, accounts or records, or the preparation, verification or certification of financial accounting and related statements or holds himself out to the public as an accountant; or (iii) renders professional services or assistance in or about matters of principle or detail relating to accounting procedure or the recording, presentation or certification of financial facts or data; or (iv) renders such other services as, in the opinion of the Council, are or may be rendered by a Chartered Accountant in practice; and the words to be in practice with their grammatical variations and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly.

4.3 Section 3 provides for the incorporation of the Institute.

4.4 Section 5 of the Act divides the members of the Institute into two categories, viz., associates and fellows. An associate is a person whose name is entered in the Register and who is entitled to use the letters A.C.A. A fellow is a person who, after becoming an associate member of the Institute, has been in continuous practice in India for at least five years, and who is entitled to use the letters F.C.A.

4.5 Section 9 of the Act provides for the Constitution of Council of the Institute for