SAT upholds Sebi order against Greenearth Resources promoters

The Securities Appellate Tribunal has upheld Sebi's order against six promoter group entities of Greenearth Resources and Projects in a case related to delay in making disclosures to the stock exchanges.
Sebi had imposed a Rs 4 lakh joint penalty on Rishiraj Agarwal, Sangeeta Agarwal, Lalita Agarwal, Ashok Agarwal, Anarcon Resources and Shri Hanuman Investments in April, for making annual disclosures about their aggregate stake in Greenearth to bourses with a delay of 31 days.
Following the ruling by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the entities approached the tribunal challenging the regulator's order.
"Obligation to make disclosures...Is mandatory and...The promoters are obliged to make disclosure to the stock exchanges where the shares of the target company are listed and also to the target company," the tribunal said in a order dated September 2.

It also said that even though the penalty imposable upon the entities for violation of norms comes to Rs 31 lakh, "adjudicating officer (Sebi) after taking into consideration all mitigating factors has imposed penalty of Rs 4 lakh jointly and severally on all the appellants".
It added: "Since the joint and several liability on all of the six appellants is only Rs 4 lakh, it is apparent that the penalty on each appellant is less than Rs 1 lakh.
"In these circumstances, penalty of Rs 4 lakh imposed upon appellants jointly and severally cannot be said to be arbitrary, unreasonable or excessive.