Independent reasoning is mandatory when a statutory council considers disciplinary reports and representations; mechanical adoption is invalid.

Where a statutory authority must consider a disciplinary report and the respondent's representation, it must record its own independent findings with reasons. The Gujarat HC noted that section 21(3) of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and Regulation 16 of the 1988 Regulations require application of mind to the material before the Council. A recommendation that merely reproduces the Disciplinary Committee's report, without meaningful engagement with the respondent's contentions, is a mechanical and invalid exercise. The Council's recommendation was therefore unsustainable for lack of independent reasoning and was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the Council's recommendation under section 21 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 was sustainable when it did not record independent reasons after considering the respondent's representation and instead substantially reproduced the Disciplinary Committee's report.

Analysis: Section 21(3) of the Act and Regulation 16 of the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988 require the Council to consider the Disciplinary Committee's report along with the respondent's written representation and to record its own findings. The expression "findings" imports an application of mind and a reasoned conclusion; mere endorsement of the committee's report does not satisfy the statutory duty. The Council's report, though reciting that it had considered the representations, did not deal with the respondent's contentions in any meaningful manner and instead reproduced the committee's report almost verbatim. Such a mechanical and cut-paste exercise was held to be inconsistent with the statutory scheme and the principles governing quasi-judicial decision-making.

Conclusion: The Council's recommendation was unsustainable for want of independent reasoning and was liable to be set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory authority is required to consider a report and the delinquent's representation and to record findings, the authority must independently apply its mind and give reasons; a verbatim or mechanical adoption of the subordinate report is not a valid finding.

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