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The Securities Appellate Tribunal has asked for additional documents from the Securities and Exchange Board of India as well as Reliance Industries while hearing an appeal relating to a case of insider trading against the company.
The hearing is next set to be heard on July 22.
Janak Dwarkadas was the advocate for Reliance Industries and D. J. Khambatta, Advocate General, was the counsel for Sebi.
The case relates to one of alleged insider trading involving the company’s erstwhile subsidiary Reliance Petroleum. The case relates to dealings in the shares of the company back in 2007.Reliance had approached SAT after market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, rejected an application to settle the matter through the consent mechanism.
The consent process allows entities to settle charges against them without admitting or denying guilt by payment of a monetary penalty. The regulator tweaked the consent mechanism in May 2012 to exclude settling matters such as insider trading and front running from its purview except in certain exceptional matters.
In a separate case, Sebi had earlier imposed a penalty of Rs.11 crore for insider trading on Reliance Petroinvestments, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries in May. The regulator had probed the purchase of shares in Indian Petrochemicals Corp Ltd (IPCL) prior to its declaration of an interim dividend and the announcement of a merger with RIL.
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In the current appeal, the tribunal has asked for additional details on the case from the stock market regulator and a rejoinder from Reliance Industries. The case has been adjourned previously in April, February and January. D. J. Khambatta suggested that the delays are having the effect of also delaying the adjudication proceedings that Sebi is conducting against the company.
The Reliance group is involved in exploration and production of oil and gas, petroleum refining and marketing besides the textile and retail sectors.
