Order against M/s Shukla Data Technics Ltd

1. Shukla Data Technics Limited (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Company’) is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, having its registered office at C-18, Everest, Tardeo Main Road, Mumbai-400034, Maharashtra. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (hereinafter referred to as ‘the SEBI’) received several complaints against the Company from the investors. As on March 2011, a total of thirty eight (38) investor complaints were pending unresolved by the Company. The investor complaints were forwarded to the Company for redressal and periodical reminders were also sent to the Company for resolving such pending complaints. Despite such follow up by SEBI, the complaints remained unresolved by the Company. 2. Therefore, vide letter dated April 21, 2011, SEBI advised the Company to resolve those thirty eight complaints within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the said letter and to submit a status report. In the said letter, attention of the Company was drawn to the provisions of sections 15C and 24 of the Securities and Exchange board of India act, 1992 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the SEBI Act’) which provide for actions in case of defaults in redressing investor grievances. The said notice returned with a remark ‘office shifted’. Thereafter, SEBI issued a public notice on July 20, 2011 in its website (www.sebi.gov.in) advising the Company to resolve the pending investor grievances and to submit the action taken report. However, SEBI did not receive any response from the Company or its directors.

3. In view of the above, SEBI issued show cause notices (SCNs) dated February 23, 2012 under section 11 and 11B of the SEBI Act to the Company and its Chairman, Mr. Pradeep B. Shukla and its directors namely, Mr. Yogesh R. Mankodi, Mr. Dhansukh N. Shukla, Mr. Mohan N. Gupta, Dr. Jitendra Sanghvi, Mr. C. Suryaprasad, Mr. Harshad Talati and Smt. Harsha P. Shukla. The SCNs issued to the Chairman and other directors (except Mr. Dhansukh N. Shukla and Mr. Mohan N. Gupta) were returned undelivered with remark ‘left’. 4. Since no replies or action taken report was received from the Company or its directors (on whom the notices were served) a news paper publication was also made by SEBI on March 1, 2012 in respect of the SCNs and notices for personal hearing on March 6, 2012, in various newspapers having nationwide and statewide circulation including ‘Times of India’ (All India edition), ‘Gujarat Samachar’ (Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Surat ,Vadodara editions ) and ‘Lokmat’ (Pune and Mumbai edition). 5. On March 06, 2012, Mr.N.K. Mukerji, advocate of Mr. Dhansukh N Shukla and Mr. Kunjal Dalal, Practicing Company Secretary and authorized representative of Mr. Mohan N Gupta appeared before me.

The learned advocate of Mr. Dhansukh N. Shukla submitted that his client was a non-executive independent director in the Company and did not have any active role in the day-to-day affairs of the Company. He had resigned from the directorship in 1997 and cannot be held responsible for the defaults of the Company especially those that occurred after his resignation. He filed a copy of the resignation letter dated October 08, 1997 submitted by the said director to the Company. The authorized representative of Mr. Mohan N Gupta submitted that Mr. Gupta was also a non-executive director in the Company and had also resigned from the Company 10 years back and is not associated with the Company since the last 10 years. He cannot be held responsible for defaults of the Company. Mr. Dhansukh N.Shukla and Mr. Mohan Gupta also filed their submissions by way of separate affidavits sworn on oath by them. 6. Vide letter dated March 02, 2012, Ms. Dwipa Mankodi, daughter of Mr. Yogesh Mankodi informed that her father had expired on June 13, 1997. A copy of the Death Certificate dated January 08, 2004 issued by the Municipal Corporation of Vadodara, Government of Gujarat was also enclosed alongwith the said letter.

She requested to delete the name of her father from the proceedings. 7. The Company, its Chairman and other directors did not respond to the public notice and did not file any reply to the SCN. Hence, I proceed to deal with allegations against them in the SCNs ex parte. 8. I have considered the SCNs, the oral and written submissions made on behalf of the above said three directors and other material available on record. Since Mr. Yogesh Mankodi had expired on June 13, 1997, much before the SEBI letter dated April 21, 2011, the proceeding against him commenced by SCN dated February 23, 2012 does not survive. The proceeding against the said deceased director is abated and SCN against him is accordingly disposed of. 9. Mr. Mohan N Gupta and Mr. Dhansukh N Shukla have affirmed on oath that they had resigned before the defaults of the Company as alleged in the SCN. In view of such affirmation, the SCNs against them are also disposed of without any directions. However, if it is subsequently discovered that these statements are untrue, SEBI reserves the right to reopen the proceedings against Mr. Mohan N Gupta and Mr. Dhansukh N Shukla.

10. I note that there were thirty eight investor complaints pending resolved by the Company, as stated in the SEBI letter dated April 21, 2011. A complaint validation exercise was conducted by SEBI in March 2011 wherein SEBI sent letters to all complainants whose complaints were pending with SEBI to inform if their complaints are not yet resolved. Pursuant to the exercise, nine complainants wrote back that their complaints were not redressed yet. As per records on date, nine complaints are pending for redressal by the Company. 11. I note that the Company and its directors namely, Mr. Pradeep B Shukla (Chairman), Dr. Jitendra Sanghvi, Mr. C. Suryaprasad, Mr. Harshad Talati, Smt. Harsha P Shukla have not resolved the said complaints despite various letters/notices issued by SEBI in that regard and have not responded to those letters/notices. Non-redressal of investors’ grievances by a listed company would adversely affect the confidence of investors in the securities market. In my view, if such defaults are not dealt with by appropriate enforcement action, the investors will not have a protected environment for their investments in the securities market.

Therefore, it is necessary to issue appropriate directions under section 11 and section 11B of the SEBI Act against the Company and the directors, without prejudice to any other action by way of adjudication or prosecution against them under the SEBI Act. 12. In view of the above, I, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under section 19 of the SEBI Act read with sections 11 and 11B thereof, hereby restrain and prohibit the Company, Shukla Data Technics Limited and its directors Mr. Pradeep B Shukla, Dr. Jitendra Sanghvi, Mr. C. Suryaprasad, Mr. Harshad Talati and Smt. Harsha P Shukla from accessing the securities market and from buying, selling or dealing in securities market, directly or indirectly, in whatsoever manner, till all the investor grievances are resolved by them.

Date: 13th April 2012 RAJEEV KUMAR AGARWAL Place: Mumbai WHOLE TIME MEMBER SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA