BEFORE THE SECURITIES APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
MUMBAI
Date of Decision: 19.12.2019
Appeal Lodging No.609 of 2019
Mr. Rajendra Kumar Dabriwala
10 Middleton Row,
Kolkata – 700071.

…. Appellant
Versus
Securities and Exchange Board of India
SEBI Bhavan,
Bandra Kurla Complex,
Mumbai – 400 051.

… Respondent
Mr. Somashekar Sunderasan, Advocate i/b. Akriti Shikha,
Advocate for the Appellant.

Mr. Vivek Shah, Advocate with Mr. Abhiraj Arora, Advocate
i/b. ELP for the Respondent.

CORAM: Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer
Dr. C.K.G. Nair, Member
Justice M.T. Joshi, Judicial Member
Per : Justice Tarun Agarwala (Oral)
1.

The appellant has challenged the present appeal
questioning the veracity of the communication made by the
Recovery Officer through his emails dated 27th November,
2019 and 9th December, 2019.

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2.

It transpires that the Adjudicating Officer passed an
order dated 31st July, 2019 imposing a penalty of Rs.49 lakhs.
The appellant filed a Review Application before the
Adjudicating Officer which is pending consideration.
3.

In the meanwhile, the Recovery Officer has initiated
proceedings for recovery of the amount pursuant to the
Adjudicating Officer’s order dated 31st July, 2019. It further
transpires that the appellant filed an application/request for
stay of the recovery proceedings pending adjudication of his
review application. This request was rejected through the
impugned
communication
on
the
ground
that
the
Adjudicating Officer has become functus officio and that the
notification dated 8th March, 2019 amending Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Procedure for Holding Inquiry and
Imposing Penalties by Adjudicating Officer) Rules, 1995 is
not applicable in as much as the said amendment relates to
the rectification of any clerical error.
4.

Having perused the amendment we do not find any
manifest error in the communication issued by the Recovery
Officer through emails dated 27th November, 2019 and 9th
December, 2019.

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5.

The appeal is dismissed. It is open to the appellant to
question the veracity of the order of the Adjudicating Officer
before the appropriate forum.

Sd/Justice Tarun Agarwala
Presiding Officer
Sd/Dr. C. K. G. Nair
Member
Sd/Justice M.T. Joshi
Judicial Member
19.12.2019
Prepared and compared by
RHN