Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Mar 4: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday imposed a four-week stay on a special court’s directive instructing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR against former SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five other officials.

The special court had passed the order in connection with allegations of stock market fraud and regulatory breaches. However, the High Court observed that the lower court’s decision was issued in a “mechanical manner,” without conducting a thorough examination of the case details or specifying the exact roles of the accused.

Justice Shivkumar Dige, while delivering the verdict, highlighted that the special court's ruling on March 1 lacked depth in analyzing the specifics of the case and failed to establish concrete misconduct on the part of the accused officials.

The High Court's intervention followed petitions filed by Buch and other officials, including three current SEBI directors—Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G, and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney—as well as two BSE executives, Managing Director and CEO Sundararaman Ramamurthy and former Chairman Pramod Agarwal. The petitioners contended that the special court’s directive was legally flawed and arbitrary, seeking its dismissal.

In response to the allegations, SEBI issued a statement dismissing the ACB Court application as frivolous, asserting that the implicated officials were not in their respective positions when the alleged irregularities occurred. SEBI also pointed out that the application was filed by a habitual litigant and criticized the ACB Court for not granting the accused an opportunity to present their defense.

While the special court had found prima facie grounds for an investigation into regulatory lapses and possible collusion, the High Court has now put the order on hold, allowing time for a more comprehensive examination of the matter before any further legal steps are taken.