SAT asks Sebi to look at RIL consent plea;next hearing on Oct29

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) today suggested that market regulator Sebi could look at considering the consent application of Reliance Industries to settle the 6-year-old insider-trading case against the firm, and adjourned the hearing to October 29.

SAT has been hearing the appeal filed by RIL against Sebi in the insider-trading case related to its erstwhile subsidiary Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) dating back to 2007.

The company is also contesting the regulator's decision of last May to keep the case out of the consent mechanism, suggesting the amount involved is too high.

Under Sebi's consent mechanism, companies can seek to settle cases with the regulator after paying certain charges and disgorgement of any ill-gotten gains.

Hearing the arguments, which have been adjourned eight times in recent past alone, SAT presiding officer J P Devadhar said: "Without going into the merits of the case, we want to know if Sebi can consider RIL's consent application in the interest of justice."

In response to this, Sebi senior counsel Darius Khambata said he will inform the tribunal after discussing the suggestion with the regulator.

Following this, SAT adjourned the further hearing on the petition to October 29.

The case dates back to 2007, when before the merger of the RPL with itself, RIL sold 4.1 per cent stake in Reliance Petroleum for Rs 4,023 crore in the futures market to allegedly prevent a price correction and later in the spot market, covering the share sales in the futures market.

As per the Sebi findings, the company booked a profit of Rs 513 crore in the futures segment through this deal. RPL was later merged with RIL.

Sebi claimed that the company was aware of the sale of shares and sold futures ahead of that, therefore amounting to insider trading.

Following this Sebi ordered a probe and found that RIL had violated insider-trading norms. Though it approached Sebi for consent settlement, the regulator did not entertain the application, forcing RIL to move SAT.