SAT upholds Sebi order against Vipras Corp

Securities Appellate Tribunal has upheld a Sebi order against Vipras Corporation in a case related to non-redressal of investor grievances and its failure to obtain registration with the regulator's online complaint redressal system.
Sebi had imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on Vipras on August 1, 2014 for not redressing the investor grievances, failure to obtain SCORES authentication and not submitting action-taken report on the investors' grievances.
Subsequently, the company had filed an appeal before SAT challenging Sebi order on the ground that it was a sick company and closed since last 10 years.
Dismissing the appeal, SAT in an order dated February 19 said: "In the present case, it is not in dispute that the appellant has failed to apply and obtain the SCORES authentication within the time stipulated in the letter addressed by Sebi on February 15, 2013.

"During the relevant period the company was not operational cannot be a ground for the appellant to disobey the directions of Sebi in applying and obtaining SCORES authentication."
In a separate case, SAT has upheld Sebi's order against one Anil Agrawal for delay in filing relevant disclosures with regard to transactions in shares of Count N Denier.

Sebi had imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on Agrawal in July, last year, for failing to comply with disclosure norms.
In a ruling on the appeal filed by Agrawal, SAT said that the "penalty imposable against the appellant...Is Rs 5 lakh and the adjudicating officer after taking into consideration all mitigating factors has imposed penalty of Rs 2 lakh which cannot be said to be unreasonable or excessively harsh.

"In the facts of present case, the discretion exercised by the adjudicating authority of Sebi cannot be said to suffer from any infirmity".