SAT upholds Sebi order against Rakan Steels

The Securities Appellate Tribunal has upheld a Sebi order against Rakan Steels in a matter related to non-redressal of investor grievances and failure to obtain registration with the regulator's online complaint redressal system.
Sebi had imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Rakan in July, 2014 for failing to obtain Sebi Complaints Redress System (SCORES) login ID and the password and thereafter redress the grievances of the investor within the stipulated time.
Subsequently, the company had filed an appeal before SAT challenging Sebi order on the ground that it was a sick company and that its commercial operations had remained suspended until the financial year 2012-13.

Dismissing the appeal, SAT in an order dated April 10 said "it is apparent that time and again the appellant has failed to obtain the SCORES registration within the time stipulated by Sebi and thereby the appellant (Rakan) has failed to resolve the investor grievances within the time stipulated by Sebi".
"... Failure to obtain SCORES Login ID and password for redressing the investor grievances within the time stipulated by SEBI would constitute violation of...Sebi Act".
The tribunal also noted that imposed penalty of Rs 1 lakh was "nominal" and "cannot be said to be excessive or arbitrary or unreasonable".