Securities tribunal gets new presiding officer, new technical member

Securities Appellate Tribunal was without a presiding officer or a judicial member for three months

The Finance Ministry has appointed P S Dinesh Kumar, a retired judge, as the presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) for four years.

Kumar is a former chief justice of the Karnataka High Court. He was a judge at the High Court since 2015 and vacated office in February this year. His tenure as chief justice was less than a month. Kumar assumed charge on January 31 after the Supreme Court collegium recommended his name to the government on January 19.

Before being elevated as a judge in 2015, Kumar practised as a lawyer for almost 25 years.

The ministry has also appointed Dheeraj Bhatnagar as a technical member of the tribunal for four years or till he reaches the age of 67, whichever is earlier. Bhatnagar retired as principal chief commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi.

The tribunal was without a presiding officer or a judicial member for three months after Justice Tarun Agarwala demitted office in December 2023.

The three-member tribunal has been functioning with only Meera Swarup as its technical member.

SAT hears and disposes of appeals against the orders of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India , and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority along with appeals against the stock exchanges and depositories.

Legal experts had raised concerns on the prolonged vacancy at the tribunal where several cases were pending. Several cases including that of Sahara India Life Insurance, Bombay Dyeing and National Spot Exchange may be heard afresh by the tribunal.

The ministry had first invited applications in August 2023 to fill the position of the presiding officer at the tribunal.