Roselabs Finance Ltd. vs Sebi

Securities Appellate Tribunal10 November 2020

CitationAppeal No.101 of 2020

Ratio decidendi

The rule this decision rests on

The Tribunal may condition the hearing of an appeal against a monetary penalty on the appellant's deposit of part of the penalty amount, and where the respondent has not filed its reply despite the time granted, the Tribunal may require that deposit as an interim measure, directing that the deposited sum be held in an interest-bearing account subject to the outcome of the appeal, with recovery of the balance and any attachment suspended during the appeal's pendency.

Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.

Judgment

As delivered

BEFORE THE SECURITIES APPELLATE TRIBUNALMUMBAIDate:10.11.2020Misc. Application No.429 of 2020AndMisc. Application No.430 of 2020AndMisc. Application No.438 of 2020AndAppeal No.101 of 2020Roselabs Finance Ltd. ...AppellantVersusSecurities and Exchange Board of India ...RespondentMr. Zal Andhyarujina, Advocate with Ms. ShrutiSardessai, Mr. Mehul Jain, Advocates and Mr. HiteshMarthak, Representative i/b. Bharucha & Partners for theAppellant.Mr. Abhiraj Arora, Advocate i/b. ELP for theRespondent.Order:1.The present appeal has been filed against the orderof the Adjudicating Officer dated 23rd December, 20192imposing a penalty of Rs.2.53 crores. On 19th October,2020 the Tribunal passed an order directing therespondent to file a reply within three weeks and thematter was directed to be listed for admission and forfinal disposal on 15th December, 2020.2. In the meanwhile, the appellant has received anotice of attachment based on which the urgencyapplication has been filed and the matter has beentaken up today. After hearing the counsel for theparties, we find that no reply has been filed by therespondent till date. Considering the aforesaid, wedirect the appellant to deposit 50% of the amountpursuant to the impugned order before the respondentwithin a week from today. The amount so depositedshall be kept in an interest bearing account and wouldbe subject to the result of the appeal. If the aforesaidamount is deposited, the balance amount shall not berecovered during the pendency of the appeal and3attachment, if any, would be lifted. List on 15thDecember, 2020 for admission and for final disposal.3. The respondent will file reply within ten days.Rejoinder, if any, may be filed on or before the nextdate. Misc. Application nos.429 and 438 of 2020 aredisposed of accordingly.4. Amendment application is allowed. Necessarycorrections in the memo of appeal be carried out withintwo weeks from today and amended copy of the appealbe supplied to the Tribunal and to all the parties.5. Parties are directed to contact the Registrar 48 hoursbefore the date fixed to find out as to whether thehearing would take place through video conferencingor through physical hearing.6. The present matter was heard through videoconference due to Covid-19 pandemic. At this stage itis not possible to sign a copy of this order nor acertified copy of this order could be issued by theregistry. In these circumstances, this order will be4digitally signed by the Presiding Officer on behalf ofthe bench and all concerned parties are directed to acton the digitally signed copy of this order. Parties willact on production of a digitally signed copy sent by faxand/or email.

Justice Tarun Agarwala Presiding Officer TARUN Digitally signed by TARUN AGARWAL DN: c=IN, o=PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT UTTAR PRADESH, postalCode=221505, st=Uttar Pradesh, 2.5.4.20=30fcf68685192bbc53e6ff1608a83fb3881de7ac2ab7

AGARWAL 954d509c85ed6e0f7c41, serialNumber=095f8b286bb0b1cd07ff676611f4f5e7999727d 404aa38ca422f9d3529bdb8a3, cn=TARUN AGARWAL Date: 2020.11.10 15:00:22 +05'30'

Dr. C. K. G. Nair Member

Justice M.T. Joshi Judicial Member

10.11.2020 RHN

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