Coming as a relief for the former SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and others involved in the case, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered a stay on a special court order seeking a First Information Report (FIR).

The HC has ordered stay for four weeks on the order against Ex-Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and five others for alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations.

Advertisement

The court stated that the “order was passed mechanically” against the case pertaining to the 1994 Cals Refineries stock listing fraud case.

A single bench of Justice Shivkumar Dige said the special court order of March 1 was passed mechanically without going into details and without attributing any specific role to the accused.

“Hence, the order is stayed till next date. Four weeks time is given to the complainant in the case (Sapan Shrivastava) to file his affidavit in reply to the petitions,” the HC said.

A plea was filed in the High Court by Buch, three current whole-time SEBI directors – Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney and two BSE officials – Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ramamurthy and its former chairman and public interest director Pramod Agarwal saying the order was illegal and arbitrary.

The pleas had sought quashing of the order passed by the special court directing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR against them pertaining to certain allegations of fraud committed in 1994 while listing a company on the BSE.

It is to be noted that a special court in Mumbai directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR against former Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five other officials in connection with alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations.

“There is prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion, requiring a fair and impartial probe,” the special ACB court judge, Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar, had said in the order.

The complainant, Sapan Shrivastava (47), who is a media reporter, had sought an investigation into the alleged offences committed by the proposed accused, involving largescale financial fraud, regulatory violations and corruption.

The allegations pertain to the fraudulent listing of a company on the stock exchange with the active connivance of regulatory authorities, particularly the Sebi, without compliance under the SEBI Act, 1992 and rules and regulations thereunder.

The order from ACB of Worli in Mumbai came just two days after Buch completed her tenure as Sebi chief.