The penalty has been imposed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on these entities for violating PFTUP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) regulations.
According to Sebi, these 17 entities by "trading amongst themselves indulged in synchronised trades on numerous occasions, resulting in no change of beneficial ownership thereby, created artificial volume which gave a false and misleading appearance of trading in the scrip of GTL."
A Sebi probe found that during the period from January 21, 2009 to April 13, 2010, the stock price of GTL unusually increased from Rs 10.10 to Rs 45.50 and the daily high-low traded volume was 614 shares to 12,12,337 shares.
In a separate order, Sebi has levied a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh on Ganesh Foundry and Castings Ltd for failing to resolve investor grievance and obtaining registration with regulator's online complaint redressal system within the stipulated timeline.
"...The noticee failed to obtain SCORES user id and password within the time limit specified by Sebi for which I find that imposing a penalty of Rs 1 lakh... The noticee also failed to resolve investor grievance within the specified time limit despite being called upon to do so by Sebi and therefore I find that imposing a penalty of Rs 50,000," Sebi Adjudicating Officer Jayanta Jash said.