Dr. Chandra Prakash And Others vs Securities And Exchange Board Of India

Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer

Two appeals have been filed against the order dated 27th October, 2020 passed by the Whole Time Member (hereinafter referred to as ‘WTM’). One appeal has been filed against the order of the Adjudicating Officer (hereinafter referred to as ‘AO’) dated 22nd September, 2020. The issue is common and, therefore, all the appeals are being taken up together at the admission stage itself.

There is a delay in the filing of the appeals. The ground urged is that the impugned order was passed ex-parte and that no show cause notice or opportunity of hearing was granted to the appellant. In this regard, we had directed the respondent to take instructions.

The learned counsel for the respondent upon instructions and upon a perusal of the record states that there is no clear evidence on record to prove that the show cause notice was actually served upon the appellants.

In view of this statement, we are of the view that the delay in the filing of the appeal is genuine and the delay is condoned. The applications are allowed.

In view of the fact that the impugned order was passed ex-parte without serving the show cause notice we are of the opinion that the respondent has violated the principles of natural justice in not giving an opportunity of hearing to the appellants.

Thus, on this short ground the impugned orders dated 27th October, 2020 passed by the WTM and the order of the AO dated 22nd September, 2020 insofar as it relates to the appellants are set aside. The appeals are allowed at the admission stage. The matter is remitted to the authority concerned to pass a fresh order after serving the show cause notice and after providing an opportunity of hearing. All the misc. applications are accordingly disposed of.

In this regard, the appellant shall appear before the relevant authority concerned on 10th May, 2023 on which date the appellants will be served with the show cause notice and the matter will proceed thereafter. We may also observe that the authority will also take into consideration the order of this Tribunal in the matter of I.S. Sukhija vs. SEBI, Appeal no.408 of 2020 and other connected appeals decided on 20th September, 2021.

This order will be digitally signed by the Private Secretary on behalf of the bench and all concerned parties are directed to act on the digitally signed copy of this order. Certified copy of this order is also available from the Registry on payment of usual charges.