Sebi wants special courts to fast-track pending cases

The regulator will be able to provide speedy justice to people, once these courts are set up

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has said it would urge the Centre to set up special courts in the four metros to fast-track pending cases. "Once these courts are set up, we will be able to provide speedy justice to the people," Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said at a seminar here.

"To file a prosecution, we have to go to normal courts, where Sebi complaints are not given precedence," he said, adding, "With the Sebi Act (amended), we can now pass orders for disgorgement, wherein we can restore the money of the investors, besides going for seizure and attachment of properties (of defrauding companies)." On the regulator's action against raising unauthorised money, Sinha said, "Sebi has registered prosecution cases against 552 companies, of which 138 have been convicted. Orders have been passed against 11 companies in the last six months; these have been banned from raising any more money."

Trust in the market, he said, could only be restored by enforcement, as well as redressal of grievances.