SC stays SAT order to SEBI officer

New Delhi, January 24

The Supreme Court today stayed a Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) order to the adjudicating officer of market regulator SEBI to appear before it in an unfair trade practice case.

Acting on an appeal filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) challenging the order passed by SAT, Mumbai, a Bench led by Justice Vineet Saran issued notice and stayed SAT order that asked the adjudicating officer to file an affidavit explaining why the argument on delay by the party was dealt with in a “casual” manner.

On December 16 last year, SAT had taken cognisance of petitioner Yatin Pandya’s submissions and said the SEBI adjudicating officer handled the matter casually, which amounted to “judicial dishonesty”.

Yatin had moved SAT challenging the original order of the adjudicating officer and contended that the proceedings were belated as there was a 12-year delay in issuing a show-cause notice.

The SEBI contended that the Securities Appellate Tribunal order was “erroneous, unsustainable and exceeded the jurisdiction” of the tribunal and that the aggressive comments made by SAT were “unwarranted”.