Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT): A Coram of Tarun Agarwala, J., (Presiding Officer) and M.T. Joshi, J., (Judicial Member) while dismissing an appeal held that separate penalties by the stock exchanges could be imposed.
In the present matter, BSE and NSE separately imposed a penalty of Rs 12 lakh for violation of Regulation 17 and 19 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (LODR Regulations), in two consecutive quarters. The stock exchanges suspended the trading activities of the appellant considering the non-payment of penalty amount. The appellant contended that the default was made only in the first quarter. Further, contended that, separate penalties for the same offence cannot be imposed by the two stock exchanges separately.
The Coram resultantly found defaults in both consecutive quarters. While relying on the SEBI’s conscious decision in W.S. Industries (India) Limited v. BSE Ltd. (Appeal No. 8 of 2019 decided on 19.09.2019) held that, separate penalties by the stock exchanges could be imposed.[PVP Ventures Ltd. v. Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd., 2021 SCC OnLine SAT 90, decided on 17-03-2021]
