The Securities Appellate Tribunal set aside SEBI's two-year debarment of the Price Waterhouse network in the Satyam matter, holding that an auditor who does not deal in securities cannot be barred under the PFUTP framework absent cogent proof of fraud or connivance — mere audit negligence falls to the ICAI, not SEBI. The Supreme Court has since stayed the broad jurisdictional observation.
The Supreme Court holds that mere possession of unpublished price-sensitive information is not insider trading: profit motive is essential, and a loss-making distress sale to save a firm is no wrong.
Decided on 23 February 2016, this judgment confirmed that the standard of proof in SEBI enforcement is the preponderance of probabilities, allowing manipulative conduct to be established by an irresistible inference drawn from the totality of circumstances.
Decided on 8 February 2018, the Supreme Court held that synchronised reversal trades in NIFTY options are a fraudulent and unfair trade practice under the PFUTP Regulations, and that proof of market impact or intent to manipulate is not a necessary ingredient.
SEBI Whole-Time Member Kamlesh C. Varshney finds the former Executive Chairperson of Religare Enterprises guilty of insider trading in REL shares sold 21-22 September 2023 in possession of UPSI of the Burman Group's 25 September 2023 open offer; orders ₹1.99 crore disgorgement with 12% interest, ₹40 lakh penalty, and a two-year market-access restraint.
After nineteen years and three rounds of regulatory and tribunal scrutiny, the Supreme Court has set aside SEBI's fraud finding against Reliance Industries on the 2007 RPL trades — and ordered SEBI to refund the ₹250 crore the company had already deposited. A close reading of the disposal, what survives, and why the case will be cited for years on the question of disgorgement standards.