Mumbai court rejects plea seeking probe against Sebi, BSE and NSE officials

A Mumbai anti-corruption court dismissed a plea seeking a probe against Sebi, BSE and NSE officials, calling it frivolous, unsubstantiated and an abuse of process

A special anti-corruption court in Mumbai has dismissed a complaint seeking a criminal probe against current and former officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the BSE and the NSE, terming the plea frivolous, not maintainable, and an abuse of the judicial process.

 

The order was passed by the Special Judge, ACB Court, Greater Bombay, while rejecting an application filed by Sapan Srivastava seeking directions for the registration of an FIR and investigation against senior market officials, including Sebi chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey, former Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, and senior executives of the BSE and the NSE.

   

The complainant had alleged corruption and dereliction of duty by the regulators and exchange officials in connection with the listing of companies, including claims relating to the 1993 listing of Infosys.

 

Rejecting the plea, the court held that the complainant had failed to comply with mandatory legal requirements before invoking the court’s jurisdiction and had not produced any material to substantiate allegations of bribery or wrongdoing. The judge noted that the complaint was vague, unsubstantiated, and based on assumptions drawn from selective interpretation of RTI replies.

 

The court also took note of the complainant’s litigation history, observing that multiple public interest litigations and criminal complaints filed by him in the past had been dismissed by various courts, often with costs, for being frivolous and lacking proper research. The order said the present application appeared to be another attempt to misuse judicial proceedings.

 

“The complaint does not warrant taking cognisance and deserves to be rejected,” the court said, adding that similar complaints filed by the applicant on the same issues had already been dismissed earlier and had attained finality.