SAT sets aside order against Polaris' Arun Jain

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has set aside an order by the Securities and Exchange Board of India which barred Polaris' chairman and managing director Arun Jain from accessing the market for a period of two years.

The regulator had found that he had sold 15,080 shares of the company and made gains worth Rs 27.26 lakhs while in possession of price-sensitive information in 2000. He had said that it was sold to raise funds for acquisition of an industrial plot, and that the shares represented a small portion of his total holding of 1.5 crore shares.

"Counsel for both the parties state that in view of peculiar facts of present case, without going into merits of the case and without giving any reasons impugned order dated October 9, 2012 may be set aside," said the SAT order.

Sebi's October order noted the delay and said that any such infraction needs to be dealt with seriously.

"In my view, insider trading particularly by the chairman and managing director should be dealt with severely. I note that for this reason, it was contemplated to initiate multiple proceedings against the notice in 2005. In my view, the violation in this case deserved deterrent enforcement actions at relevant time," it said.