Supreme court verdict as to why only CAs can be appointed as Tax Auditors

As per Guidance note on Issues in Tax Audit under Section 44AB of ICAI 

Purpose of Tax Audit:

The purpose of Tax Audit is to ensure that books of Accounts have been maintained in accordance with the provisions  of the Income Tax Act. Circular No.387  issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes which has been annexed to the material circulated to you also highlights this fact. Accordingly a proper audit for tax purposes would ensure that proper records are

being maintained, and that the accounts properly reflect the income reported by the Assessee. This audit effectively curbs Tax Evasion and ensures Tax Compliance. Tax Audit also ensures that the Accounts are properly being presented to the Assessing Officers when called for. The precious time of the Assessing Officers is also saved from the routine and ineffective verifications like checking of totals and vouching of Purchase and Sales transactions. They can devote their time in more important investigation aspects of a Case. Thus Tax Audit saves considerable time to the Income Tax Department.

Who can carry out Tax Audit?

After the applicability of Tax Audit, the next question arises regarding who can conduct Tax Audit. Section 44AB requires that the accounts should be audited by an Accountant. The explanation to Section 44AB states that the word accountant shall have the same meaning as the explanation to Section 288(2). The Explanation to Section 288(2) states that

“accountant” means a chartered accountant within the meaning of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949), and includes, in relation to any State, any person who by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 226of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), is entitled to be appointed to act as an auditor of companies registered in that State.

Section 226 of the Companies Act, 1956 says that a person holding a certificate issued by a Part B State may also be appointed as an auditor. But this provision has no relevance today. No person is eligible to be appointed as an auditor by virtue of this provision today. Hence effectively only a Chartered Accountant holding a valid Certificate of Practice can carry out Tax Audit under section 44AB. This proves the level of trust we has been entrusted with. It will be in the duty of us all future Chartered Accountants to uphold this trust. After all C and A are the Alphabets of trust.

This monopolist trust vested on Chartered Accountants was also upheld by the Supreme Court in the Case of T.D. Venkata Rao v. Union of India [1999] 237 ITR 315 (SC).In this instant case, T.D.Venkata Rao, an Income Tax Practitioner, had questioned the legal validity of allowing only CAs to Audit under section 44AB. Supreme Court upheld the superiority of CAs by noting that Chartered Accountants, by reason of their training have special aptitude in the matter of audits and no other person can be held eligible to conduct audit under Section 44AB.  Supreme Court further held that CAs are a Class by themselves meaning that CAs are the brand for auditing itself.