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The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Wednesday informed the Bombay high court that it would not take any action till 30 April, regarding the summons issued to Subhash Chandra, Chairman Emeritus of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, in an alleged fund diversion case.
A bench led by Justice G.S. Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh Pooniwala was hearing Chandra’s petition against the summons issued by the markets regulator. Chandra has been asked to file a rejoinder.
Chandra moved the high court in this regard on 5 January. He alleged that the summons issued by Sebi in an unprecedented manner contained allegations couched in a language that indicates they have already been proved conclusively. He pleaded before the court to declare that the summons was ‘illegal and void’, because the same is vitiated by ‘predetermination, arbitrariness, unfairness, bias’.
In January, Sebi stated that it issued multiple summons against Chandra to engage with the media baron in its investigation regarding the alleged fund diversion case. However, Sebi said that Chandra did not respond to the summons. In June last year, Sebi in its probe alleged that ₹200 crore worth of funds were diverted through related party transactions from Zee.
In his petition, Chandra said: “From a fair reading of the summons, it is apparent that Sebi has already predetermined the petitioner as guilty at the investigation stage itself, without following due process, principles of natural justice, ongoing investigation is nothing but a sham and a formality”.
Following this, Sebi had informed the court that it won’t act on the summons till three weeks.
Moreover, Chandra has asked the court to restrain Sebi from issuing a final investigative report.
In August 2023, Sebi issued a confirmatory order against Subhash Chandra and son Punit Goenka, the MD and CEO of ZEE, in the same case, restraining them from holding any key directorial positions in Zee group companies.
The order clarified that the investigation into the matter was to be completed within 8 months from August. The matter has been reserved for orders.
Punit Goenka, however, who challenged the Sebi order right after had got a clean chit in the matter from SAT in October last year. However, a similar petition by Chandra against the Sebi order is pending before the SAT.
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Published: 10 Apr 2024, 05:28 PM IST
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