SEBI required to act in public interest: Bombay HC raps regulatory body

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is required to act in the public interest the Bombay High Court said on Friday castigating the regulatory body for not complying with an order passed by the court in OctoberA division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said such an approach by the SEBI would cause a dent in the confidence reposed in the public body by investorsThe HC had in October directed the SEBI to provide certain probe documents to the minority shareholders of a company The company and the SEBI challenged this order in the Supreme Court which dismissed the appeals in NovemberThe petitioners are minority shareholders of Bharat Nidhi Limited and had made various complaints to SEBI accusing the company of violation of securities lawsThe SEBI had then initiated investigations into the same issued a show cause notice to the company and later passed a settlement order which has now been revokedThe petitioners case is that neither the investigation report nor any relevant documents were supplied to themThe petitioners alleged that the investigation being done by the SEBI was a farceThe SEBI on Friday told HC that since the settlement order has been revoked nothing survives in the present petitionsThe bench however said there has been persistent noncompliance of the order passed by the court and said this was too far to be imagined and totally unacceptableSEBI is a public body it is required to act in public interest it needs to comply with the orders passed by this Court HC saidThe court said it was constrained to make such remarks as it was quite astonished by the stand taken by the SEBI in the present caseSuch approach of the SEBI in our opinion would cause a dent to the confidence the investors would repose in the SEBI which needs to function solely to further the object and purpose for which it is created by the Parliament the bench saidThe court added that to its mind SEBI has resorted to all possible efforts to not comply with its order and this does not appear to be meaninglessHowever it is quite intriguing to note the approach of the SEBI as clearly seen from the events which had transpired and from the obstinate stand taken by the SEBI in not furnishing the documents to the petitioners HC saidThe bench said now that the settlement order has been revoked the SEBI would adjudicate the show cause notice issued to the company expeditiouslyThe bench said the petitioners need to be provided with the documents and directed the SEBI to forthwith comply with its orderThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever