SC removes certain remarks on Agarwal

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday removed certain remarks against Arun Kumar Agrawal, who moved a public interest petition against the appointment of U K Sinha as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Though the petition was dismissed last November, Agrawal moved the court for deletion of some damaging observations against him. The bench expunged these, after hearing senior counsel Shanti Bhushan. However, the bench headed by judge S S Nijjar declined a similar request of K M Abraham, then whole-time member of the Sebi, who was also the object of severe comments in the judgment. Agrawal had quoted Abraham's letter to the prime minister in his petition. The bench clarified the observations against Abraham were in the context of deciding the issues before the court and they shall not affect his career. He is currently additional chief secretary of the Kerala government in Thiruvana-nthapuram.