Mr. Shankar Aggarwal vs Sebi

BEFORE THE SECURITIES APPELLATE TRIBUNAL MUMBAI Date of Decision : 24.06.2022 Misc. Application No. 359 of 2022 And Misc. Application No. 360 of 2022 And Appeal No. 307 of 2022 Mr. Shankar Aggarwal Sports Villa No. 26, Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida, UP - 201310. ..... Appellant Versus 1. Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI Bhavan, Plot No. C-4A, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051. 2. Dish TV India Ltd. Office No. 3/B, 3rd Floor, Goldline Business Centre, Link Road, Malad (West), Mumbai - 400064. ... Respondents Mr. Dinesh Dwivedi, Senior Advocate with Mr. Prateek Dwivedi, Mr. Sahil Mahajan, Advocates for the Appellant. 2 Mr. Gaurav Joshi, Senior Advocate with Mr. Mihir Mody, Mr. Arnav Misra, Mr. Mayur Jaisingh, Advocates i/b. K. Ashar & Co. for the Respondent Nos. 1 (SEBI). Mr. H. S. Chandhoke, Advocate with Mr. Abdullah Hussain, Mr. Rishabh Vohra, Advocates i/b L&L Partners for the Respondent Nos. 2 (DISH TV). CORAM : Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer Justice M. T. Joshi, Judicial Member Per : Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer (Oral) 1. We have heard the learned senior counsel for the parties.

On March 7, 2022, the Whole Time Member (hereinafter referred to as 'WTM') of Securities and Exchange Board of India (hereinafter referred to as 'SEBI') passed an ad-interim ex-parte order cum show cause notice against eight entities. Appeal No. 115 of 2022 was filed by three of the entities, namely, Dish TV India Ltd., Mr. Jawahar Lal Goel and Mr. Ranjit Singh challenging the said ad-interim order cum show cause notice. This Tribunal by an order of March 9, 2022 disposed of the appeal with the direction to the said three entities to file a reply on or before March 20, 2022 to the show cause notice and 3 thereafter the WTM was directed to decide the matter after giving an opportunity of hearing to the said entities within four weeks thereafter. 2. Based on the aforesaid direction, replies were filed by the three entities as well as by the other entities and the matter was heard on March 31, 2022, but till date no order has been passed by the WTM. 3. In the meanwhile, the three entities filed a settlement application in terms of Regulation 8(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2018. The said three entities also filed an application before this Tribunal which was disposed of on April 25, 2022 directing that in view of the settlement application being filed the WTM will not pass any order till the disposal of the settlement application.

4. Based on this order of the Tribunal, it appears that the WTM is not passing any order against the other entities including the present appellant. 5. The present appellant has now filed the present appeal questioning the veracity of ad-interim order cum show cause notice 4 dated March 7, 2022. His basic grievance is that even though he has filed a reply and the matter was heard on March 31, 2022, no final order is being passed by the WTM. In this regard, the appellant also pointed out that he was also a director and a Public Interest Director in Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'MCX'). In the meanwhile, vide letter dated May 12, 2022 SEBI has directed MCX that the appellant would not be permitted to attend any board meeting till further communication. The contention of the appellant is that based on the show cause notice, the impugned communication has been issued and if he does not attend any board meeting he would be automatically debarred as a director in MCX. 6. In this regard, Rule 8 of the aforesaid Regulations states as under :- 7. A perusal of the aforesaid provision indicates that where a settlement application is filed by one or more person, the same will not affect the continuance or disposal of the proceedings against those persons who have not filed any settlement application.

8. In this regard, we have been informed that the appellant has not filed any settlement application. Consequently, there is no embargo upon the WTM in not passing the final order pursuant to the show cause notice dated March 7, 2022 against the appellant and other entities who have not filed a settlement application. 9. In view of our earlier order dated March 9, 2022 wherein we had directed the WTM to decide the matter within four weeks and hearing was concluded on March 31, 2022, and the order has still not been passed, we accordingly direct the respondent to pass an appropriate order within three weeks from today in so far as the present appellant is concerned. We also direct that it will be open to the appellant to attend the board meeting of the MCX as a director and that the order of May 12, 2022 passed by SEBI and 6 consequential order communicated by MCX on May 20, 2022 will not come in the way. The appeal is accordingly disposed of. 10. This order will be digitally signed by the Private Secretary on behalf of the bench and all concerned parties are directed to act on the digitally signed copy of this order.

Certified copy of this order is also available from the Registry on payment of usual charges. Justice Tarun Agarwala Presiding Officer Justice M. T. Joshi RAJALA Digitally by signed Judicial Member 24.06.2022 KSHMI RAJALAKSHMI NAIR H H NAIR 14:29:51 +05'30' Date: 2022.06.29 PTM