Dear Chintan,
I am sure it must hav been very stressful for your friend... Let me just say something here bhai.. like one student to another....
There are very few people who actually get positive result from verifying answer sheets.. your friend is lucky to be one among them... this paper IT/SM we dont know what basis they are giving marks... those who wrote badly get high marks and those who wrote well aer only scraping thru... I am sure he wrote that paper well, 42 is a surely fabricated number...
Your friend's case is not isolated yaar... ICAI has to apologise to him, if not compensate him.... but we students are unfortunately in no position to stand up against institute... That is the stark reality of CA course... Institute's BESHARAM behaviour "chalta hai". :(
Meanwhile tell your friend to be happy that he has cleared in that sitting..... Tell him to COME OUT OF THIS SHOCK and follow up his mark list of June attempt immediately..
But pls yaar, i am advising you pls dont go for fight with ICAI, they'll remember even if we dont....
Regarding one month extra leave, what is there friend, he can sort it with his principal........ maybe he can work off one month when he has written final and sitting 2 months idle for result....