However, a division bench of Justices Ashok Bhan and N Kumar, while ordering the issue of an arrangement notice, did not set the date for the next hearing.

The PIL, filed by ICWAI member SN Krishnamurthy, contends that the DCA, which is under the jurisdiction of the Union ministry of law, justice and company affairs, remained unmoved and inactive in the matter of various complaints filed against ICWAI's central council.

The PIL noted that nine out of the 16 central council members including four government nominees had resigned. It questioned how a minority council continued to exist and control the affairs of the institute.

Earlier, ICWAI had been rocked by allegations of malpractices relating to tampering of marks of two candidates, Ms Nidhi Joshi and Mr Parag Goel. Mr Goel is the grandson of the then ICWAI president, RJ Goel.

A two-member DCA-appointed committee, after investigating the allegations, found ICWAI's director of examinations, Mr AP Kar, guilty of tampering with the marks of the two candidates and ordered the council to dismiss Mr Kar.

However, the then ICWAI president, Mahesh Shah, allowed Mr Kar to continue with his assignments. Following the inaction part of the central council, the ICWAI called a requisition meeting on April 20 and April 21, where Mr Kar was suspended and Mr Shah and ICWAI's vice-president, DC Bajaj, were removed.

In June, Mr Shah and Mr Bajaj appealed to the Calcutta High Court challenging the basic validity of the requistion meeting. The court ordered their reinstatement, but noted that the enquiry report of the DCA-appointed committee has pointed to the involvement of Mr Kar in the affairs of marks tampering.

The present council headed by Mr Bajaj also overruled the earlier decision of the central council at its meeting to get the "domestic enquiry" against Mr Kar done by a retired chief judge of the city civil court.

At the 200th meeting of the council on December 3 and December 4, the council ruled that the enquiry will be done by a senior member of the institute.