Consequently, the seminar has been postponed with both sides trading charges of high-handed behaviour. According to sources, organisers of the seminar had gone to invite Kanpur excise commissioner Kailash Sethi for the seminar. But this visit apparently turned into a nightmare for the organisers.

According to a statement released by the institute, the three representatives were made to wait for a long period as Sethi was having his lunch. When they were ushered in, the release claims that Sethi was furious because three persons had entered his room although only one visiting card was sent.

According to the statement, Sethi allegedly used foul language and abused the profession of chartered accountants. He also assaulted one of the visitors, thestatement alleged.

The release claims that the three visitors were then illegally detained by the armed excise staff under instructions from Sethi. Finally, when they were allowed to go, they were forced to leave their car behind. The vehicle was released only after the local police intervened.

Soon after this unsavoury incident, the three members lodged a police complaint against the excise commissioner. This was followed by protest meetings by several organisations of professionals practicing various laws, where Sethi's alleged behaviour was condemned.

The statement also claimed that Sethi had briefed a different version to his superiors in the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

When contacted by The Financial Express, Sethi in a written statement claimed that the representatives of the institute behaved rudely with his control room staff and had refused to enter their names in the visitor's book. They had allegedly misbehaved with his sepoy who had kept them waiting while he washaving his lunch.

He also said that they had barged into his office without specifying their motives for doing so. According to him, the representatives had threatened him and his staff and behaved indecently and aggressively. He said that he had notified the Inspector General of Police (Kanpur) about the incident.The representatives had subsequently apologised for their behaviour in the presence of other excise staff and he gave them the publicity material for the Kar Vivad Samadhan scheme.

Expressing surprise over the police complaint being lodged against him Sethi said that the office bearers of the institute had also misbehaved with the chief commissioner of income-tax, TK Das.

He said the current issue was blown out of proportion mainly because the CAs were opposing the imposition of service tax on their profession and were seeking his transfer.

According to Sethi, the first information report lodged with the police was allegedly at the behest of Jagat Vir Singh Dron (MP) and Neeraj Chaturvedi(MLA).

He said that the MP and the MLA were part of the delegation which had allegedly attempted to influence the excise department's investigations against a local industrialist RK Somani of Somani Iron and Steel Ltd. Somani's arrest had led to unsavory scenes in the office of the chief commissioner of Kanpur, Sethi claimed.

Even as the row between the CAs and the excise department is heading towards a more uglier scene, with elected representatives taking sides, the issue of the Kar Vivad Samadhan remains relegated to the backstage.