The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the petition of market regulator SEBI in the Sahara India Commercial Corporation Limited (SICCL) case. SEBI has challenged part of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) order in which relief was granted to four managers and the company secretary of SICCL.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice V Mohan has listed the case for hearing in July, clubbing it with pending petitions related to the same issue.
The case pertains to ‘Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures’ (OFCD) issued between 1998 and 2008. SAT in its March 9 order against SICCL SEBI While upholding the action, the appeal of the company and its directors was rejected.
SEBI reaches Supreme Court in SICCL case
The tribunal had said that the issue of OFCD falls in the category of public issue and hence it comes under the regulatory purview of SEBI. SICCL had raised approximately Rs 14,106 crore from about 1.98 crore investors through these debentures.
SAT had also held that raising such a huge amount from such a large number of investors could not be considered a private placement, as the company had claimed.
Case of relief to four officers in SICCL case
However, the tribunal, while accepting the separate appeals of the four managers and the company secretary, had said that they cannot be held responsible for the actions of the company merely on the basis of being employees.
Now SEBI has challenged this part in the Supreme Court. The case pertains to SEBI’s October 2018 order, in which the company was directed to return the amount raised from investors, provide details of assets and bar some officials from the securities market.
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