Sebi members 'going slow' as their terms near end

The next couple of months are expected to witness a fall in the number of orders passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Two of its key whole-time members have been hearing very selective matters, as less than two months remain before their respective terms end.

Sebi whole-time members M S Sahoo and K M Abraham will both retire in July. While Sahoo’s three-year tenure will end on July 13, Abraham will retire on July 21.

According to a person familiar with the developments, they are ‘going slow’ in hearing most ongoing matters as they will not be in a position to pass the final orders before they retire in July.

“They have practically stopped hearing fresh matters unless unavoidable,” he said. “Even if they hear the matter now, it will be difficult for them to pass an order, which would look unprofessional. The affected party will have to come again and present the case before the new members who join office in July.”

Sahoo and Abraham, also share between them the departments critical to any regulatory probe. Sahoo, who resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) before joining Sebi as a whole-time member in 2008, is in-charge of departments such as legal affairs, enforcement and market intermediaries’ supervision and regulation. Abraham, a 1982 Kerala cadre IAS, handles investigations, integrated surveillance and market regulation.

The third whole-time member, Prashant Saran, looks after mutual funds, foreign institutional investors and collective investment schemes, among other things.

Some high-profile orders passed either by Sahoo or Abraham including those on Pyramid Saimira, Societe Generale, Sahara India Real Estate and MCX Stock Exchange. Also, consent orders on entities such as Merrill Lynch, Reliance Natural Resources and Reliance Infrastructure, Nirmal Bang Securities, Religare Asset Management, erstwhile UTI Securities and RBS Asia.