New Delhi: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has finally broken its silence on the regulatory turf war that has erupted since market regulator Sebi's order on Wednesday that barred Pricewaterhouse Coopers and its 11 affiliates from auditing listed companies for a period of two years because of its involvement in the Satyam scam.

The ICAI said the provisions of the act under which it has been established do not allow it to take action against audit firms but only against its members - a legal lacuna that it has been trying to remove by lobbying the government since 2010.

In a carefully worded note issued after several rounds of internal discussions and consultations with legal luminaries on an issue that chartered accountants around the country see as an onslaught on their regulatory turf, the ICAI said: "Under the present provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act 1949, there are no powers vested with the ICAI for taking action against CA firms."

The professional body, which has regulatory powers vested under an act of Parliament, said it had been seeking these powers for the last seven years.

The ICAI, the statement said, "has already sent its recommendation in 2010 to the ministry of corporate affairs for making amendments in the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, to enable disciplinary action against CA firms."

Sources said though the the ICAI was unhappy with Sebi's action against Pricewaterhouse as it felt the regulator had infringed on its powers to discipline auditors even as it decided not to directly comment on the order. The statement said "the ICAI may not like to specifically comment on the order passed by Sebi".

The institute, however, said it was the first "to be off the blocks when the Satyam matter broke out in January 2009" and that "the present punishment awarded by Sebi is 'only a reiteration of the verdict' passed by its disciplinary panel".

The ICAI had initiated disciplinary cases in 2012 against six errant members concerned and "awarded the maximum penalty of removal from membership permanently and imposition of monetary penalty on auditors involved".

In February 2012, the ICAI had imposed a lifetime ban on four auditors - S. Gopalakrishna, Talluri Srinivas, V. Srinivasa and V.S. Prabhakara Rao - involved in the Satyam Computers accounting fraud.