Legal Reference Library

The Supreme Court (SC) of India in National Securities Depository Ltd. v. SEBI has ruled that any action taken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in its administrative and legislative capacity cannot be appealed at the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). This means that one cannot approach SAT against a circular passed by Sebi since SAT has jurisdiction only over orders and directions passed by the capital markets regulator in a quasi-judicial capacity.

In Pramod Jain Vs. Securities and Exchange Board of India,  the question before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India was :- (i) To what extent is the timeline laid down under the Takeover Regulations required to be adhered to and effect of delay by SEBI in the present case? (ii) To what extent unilateral action of the target company in dealing with the property of the company after a hostile public offer is made furnish cause of action to the acquirers to withdraw the public offer and whether in the present case, decision not permitting withdrawal of public offer is justified? The Hon'ble court held that :- i) The withdrawal has to be dealt with under Regulation 27, as held by this Court. The general principle is that public offer once made cannot be withdrawn. Exception to the rule is the specified situations under the Regulation as laid down by this Court in above decisions particularly in Nirma Industries Limited (Supra). In the present case, though SEBI was not ...

Actual Loss to the investors is not pre-requisite for penalty on non-disclosure under Takeover Regulations The security market regulator imposed penalty of Rs. 4,50,000 on M/s. Khatau Exim Limited (the company) for non compliance with Takeover Regulation, 1997 and Sec. 15A(b) of the SEBI Act, 1992. The company was found guilty for not to make annual filing to the stock Exchanges where the company’s shares were listed in respect of the holdings of the promoters or person(s) having control over the company. The adjudicating officer of SEBI while considering the quantum of penalty relied on the decisions of the Supreme Court in SEBI v.  Shri Ram Mutual Fund in which it was ruled that, “penalty is attracted as soon as the contravention of the statutory obligation as contemplated by the Act and the Regulations is established and hence the intention of the parties committing such violation becomes wholly irrelevant…”. Adjudication Order in the matter of M/s. Khatau Exim Limited, ORD...