The Securities Appellate Tribunal has set aside Sebi's order against six of the 22 brokers which were barred from the capital market for executing reversal trades worth over Rs 8,100 crore to make illegal gains.
These entities are Aryav Securities, MKB Securities, Geometry Vanijya, Odyssey Securities, NS Broking and Best Bull Stock Trading.
Besides, the tribunal had already set aside the order passed by Sebi against eight of the 22 brokers last month.
Sebi, through an order dated February 17, had barred 22 brokers from the capital markets, including these six for executing reversal trades to generate fictional profits.
However, they were allowed to function as stock brokers on behalf of their existing clients in cash segment but were restrained from signing new clients.
These rulings by the Tribunal have come on an appeal filed by six of them.
The Tribunal noted that it is impossible to believe that the Sebi order is passed in the interest of investors, because even after holding that 11,228 clients of 22 brokers were allegedly indulged in unnatural reversal trades, these clients were permitted to carry on trades in the securities market.
Whereas the 22 brokers are being restrained from entering the securities market "even though there is not an iota of evidence to suggest that the said brokers were aware of the fact that their clients were indulged in reversal trades with a view to make unnatural profit/loss".
"If Sebi considers that the clients who have allegedly been indulged in unnatural reversal trades need not be restrained from entering the securities market... Then, there is no reason as to why the brokers of those clients should be restrained from entering the securities market," SAT said in an order dated March 4.
Citing the previous ruling in the matter of Guiness Securities and Aryav Securities, Best Bull Stock Trading appealed to the Tribunal.
Accordingly, SAT today set aside the Sebi order against Best Bull on the same ground as in the case of the other brokers.
