Sanjay Jethalal Soni vs Sebi

BEFORE THE SECURITIES APPELLATE TRIBUNAL MUMBAI Date of Decision : 04.02.2022 Misc. Application No. 9 of 2022 And Appeal No. 51 of 2022 1. Sanjay Jethalal Soni 36, Malay Bungalows, Science City Road, Sola, Ahmedabad - 380 001. 2. Krupa Sanjay Soni 36, Malay Bungalows, Science City Road, Sola, Ahmedabad - 380 001. 3. J M Soni Consultancy Through its proprietor Sanjay Jethalal Soni 36, Malay Bungalows, Science City Road, Sola, Ahmedabad - 380 001. ..... Appellants Versus Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI Bhavan, Plot No. C-4A, G-Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051. ..... Respondent Mr. N.K. Upadhyay, Advocate with Mr. Arvind Dubey and Ms. Jyoti Pandey, Advocates i/b Lexkare Legal for the Appellants. Mr. Kumar Desai, Advocate with Mr. Chirag Shah, Mr. Rishab Jain and Ms. Daksha Kasekar, Advocates i/b Mansukhlal Hiralal & Co. for the Respondent. CORAM : Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer Justice M.T. Joshi, Judicial Member 2 Per : Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer (Oral) 1. The present appeal has been filed against the order dated October 24, 2019 passed by the Adjudicating Officer ('AO' for short) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India ('SEBI' for short) imposing penalty of Rs. 16 lakh payable by the appellants jointly and severally under Section 15H of the SEBI Act for failure to make a public announcement in terms of Regulation 10 and Regulation 11(1) of SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 read with Regulation 35(2) of SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011. The appeal was filed sometimes in January 2022. 2. There is an inordinate delay in the filing of the appeal.

The reason given for condoning the delay is that the multiple orders have been passed by the authority against the appellants and limitation period was running simultaneously in all those orders. Further, the bank accounts were frozen and therefore on account of the aforesaid factor the appeal could not be filed within the stipulated period. 3. Having heard the learned counsel for the appellants, we are not satisfied with the ground shown for condoning the 3 delay. Admittedly, the appellants have been filing the appeals before this Tribunal from time to time but in the instant case there has been an inordinate delay for which sufficient cause has not been shown. Consequently, on the ground of laches we dismiss the appeal as also the miscellaneous application with no order as to costs. 4. The present matter was heard through video conference due to Covid-19 pandemic. At this stage it is not possible to sign a copy of this order nor a certified copy of this order could be issued by the registry. In these circumstances, 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.

Parties will act on production of a digitally signed copy sent by fax and/or email. Justice Tarun Agarwala Presiding Officer Justice M.T. Joshi RAJALA Digitally by signed Judicial Member 04.02.2022 KSHMI NAIR RAJALAKSHMI H Date: 2022.02.08 H NAIR 10:19:42 +05'30' msb