The Bombay High Court stayed the order to register an FIR against former SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and others, citing lack of detail and evidence in the special court’s ruling. The complainant has been given four weeks to file a response.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday temporarily stayed a special court’s order that had directed the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five other individuals in connection with an alleged financial fraud dating back to 1994.
A single bench of Justice Shivkumar Dige of the High Court noted that the special court’s order was passed “mechanically” without detailing the specific roles of the accused. The bench further observed that the order lacked the necessary examination of evidence before directing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR. As a result, the High Court stayed the special court’s decision for four weeks and gave complainant Sapan Shrivastava time to file an affidavit in reply to the petitions challenging the FIR.
The case concerns an alleged fraud related to a company’s listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in 1994. Shrivastava, a media reporter, had filed a complaint alleging large-scale financial irregularities, regulatory violations, and corruption. The individuals named in the complaint include Madhabi Puri Buch, three current whole-time SEBI directors—Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G, and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney—along with two BSE officials: Managing Director and CEO Sundaraman Ramamurthy, and former chairman Pramod Agarwal.
The special court’s order, which directed the FIR registration, was contested by the accused parties, who argued that the order was illegal and arbitrary. They contended that the allegations lacked specificity and were based on events that occurred well before the accused held positions at SEBI or the BSE.
Representing the SEBI officials, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the complaint was “vexatious” and unsupported by specific evidence. He also pointed out that Shrivastava had previously been fined for filing a frivolous petition. Senior advocates for the BSE officials also highlighted procedural errors, including the failure to secure necessary sanctions for investigating public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The High Court has now postponed the hearing for four weeks, staying the FIR order in the meantime.
(Inputs from PTI)
