Pancard Clubs Case: Supreme Court Appoints Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia-Led Committee To Auction Properties

The Supreme Court has designated a committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia as the Asset Sale Committee to oversee the auction of properties of Pancard Clubs Ltd (PCL) and facilitate recovery for investors. The Court noted that, according to SEBI, PCL owes ₹7,035 crore to its investors following allegations of fraudulent fund mobilisation through an unregistered Collective Investment Scheme. A division bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan...

Supreme Court Upholds MCX Circular Allowing Negative Settlement Pricing For Crude Oil Futures

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court judgment upholding the validity of Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX)'s April 21, 2020, circular permitting negative settlement pricing for crude oil futures.The High Court had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Dhanera Diamonds and others challenging MCX's circular dated 21 April 2020, which fixed the final settlement price of crude oil futures at Rs. -2,884 per barrel following the global oil price...

Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With HC Order In SEBI Appeal Concerning Atlas Ramachandran's Escrow Funds

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to interfere with a Kerala High Court Division Bench judgment concerning funds lying in an escrow account maintained with Axis Bank. The funds were connected with an open offer linked to late filmmaker and jeweller M.M. Ramachandran, popularly known as Atlas Ramachandran.A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu at the threshold questioned SEBI's locus to challenge an order arising from proceedings initiated by Axis Bank against the Income Tax...

Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Delhi HC Order On Ex-NSE Chief Chitra Ramkrishna's PC Act Plea

Today, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court's dismissal of former National Stock Exchange (NSE) MD & CEO Chitra Ramkrishna's plea challenging the CBI prosecution against her in the NSE co-location case. A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran observed that Ramkrishna's contention that NSE officials cannot be treated as “public servants” under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 can be raised before the trial court. The judges held: “We are of...

Mere Release Of Escrow Account Does Not Bar Fraud Probe Under SEBI's PFUTP Regulations: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that mere release of an escrow amount under the Buyback Regulations does not create an automatic statutory bar against proceedings under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to Securities Market) Regulations, 2003 (PFUTP Regulations). It held that the escrow-release inquiry is confined to determining whether the amount is liable to forfeiture and does not, by itself, answer the separate...

Supreme Court Remands Fraud Allegations In Vedanta's Cairn India ₹5,725 Crore Buyback To SAT

The Supreme Court on Wednesday remanded allegations of fraud relating to Vedanta's Cairn India's proposed ₹5,725 crore share buyback to the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) for fresh adjudication. It held that unresolved discrepancies in the trading data relied upon by SEBI went to the root of the fraud finding.A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan clarified that the release of an escrow amount maintained for the buyback does not bar a separate inquiry into alleged fraud...

Supreme Court Disposes SEBI-NSE Appeals After Settlement In Co-Location, P2P Connectivity Dispute

The Supreme Court has disposed of the appeals arising from the dispute between Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and National Stock Exchange Ltd (NSE) over alleged irregularities in NSE's co-location facility and Point to Point (P2P) connectivity, after the parties settled the dispute between them with NSE making the entire payment demanded by SEBI.In its August 9, 2023 order, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) held that P2P connectivity did not provide Way2Wealth (W2W) or GKN...

NSE Clearing's Settlement Committee Cannot Order Restitution Of Liquidated Client Securities: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the Member and Core Settlement Guarantee Fund Committee constituted by NSE Clearing Corporation had no statutory or bye-law power to direct Professional Clearing Members to restore securities liquidated after Trading Members defaulted.A Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran held:“This is in stark violation of the power conferred by the statute and the byelaws also do not speak of any such power being conferred of disgorgement or...

SEBI Moves Supreme Court Against Kerala HC Ruling Dismissing Its Appeal Over Ramachandran Escrow Funds

On 22 August, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court challenging a Kerala High Court judgment which dismissed its appeal over funds lying in an escrow account linked to late filmmaker and jeweller M.M. Ramachandran and Atlas Jewellery. A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court had held that SEBI, which was not the original writ petitioner, could not challenge the judgment in proceedings initiated by Axis Bank. It had...

Supreme Court Dismisses NSEL Plea For Joint Trial In Two CBI Cases Over 2013 Payment Crisis

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed National Spot Exchange Ltd.'s (NSEL) challenge to the Bombay High Court's March 27, 2026 judgment. The Bombay High Court had refused to direct a joint trial in two CBI cases arising from the alleged 2013 NSEL payment crisis.A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana held that, "No case to interfere with the impugned order passed by the High Court is made out. The Special Leave Petition is,...

Defences Against Insider Trading Given Under 2015 SEBI Regulations Not Exhaustive, But Must Be Similar: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the defences available against an insider trading allegation under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 are not exhaustive. Any additional defence, however, must be of the same or similar nature as those specifically listed in the regulations.The court was considering the six specific defences set out under Regulation 4(1) of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015, which provides...

Supreme Court Stays Delhi HC Ruling Declaring NSE A Public Authority Under RTI Act

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Delhi High Court's July 1 judgment declaring the National Stock Exchange (NSE) a "public authority" under the Right to Information Act. It thus revived the interim stay on the Central Information Commission's June 7, 2007 order declaring the NSE a public authority, directing that it shall continue until further orders. A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued a notice on NSE's appeal. It extended the interim protection that had operated...