New Delhi: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to award maximum punishment to Sahara India's head Subrata Roy and three other directors of its companies for contempt of court by not complying with its order of returning Rs.24,000 crore to investors.
"Here is a case where contempt was committed not once, not twice but three times," senior counsel Arvind Datar told an apex court bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar. The bench was hearing SEBI's contempt petition against Sahara India.
"These directors and officers should be given maximum imprisonment," Datar told the court.
SEBI moved the court seeking action against Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd and their directors for not having complied with the orders of August 31, 2012, December 5, 2012, and February 25, 2013, directing it to deposit Rs.24,000 crore to SEBI so that it could refund investors.
Describing the defiance of the apex court verdict as "brazen and blatant", Datar urged the court to ask Roy and the other directors to appear before the court and deposit their passports.
Datar reminded the judges that it was just 21 days away from the first anniversary of their August 30, 2012, judgment asking the Sahara companies to deposit Rs.24,000 crore.
Opposing the SEBI's plea, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani told the court that the law of contempt has assumed constitutional dimensions and since the market regulator has not mentioned any name other than two companies in their petitions, "it is not permissible for the court to travel to any piece of paper that is not before it".
Jethmalani said it was the burden of SEBI to prove its case beyond doubt and it is more so because it also involves threat to liberty.
The matter will come up for the next hearing Aug 13.
Comments
| Quick linksNews
National
International
Regional
Politics
Education & Career
Business
Science & Technology
Health
Views & Analysis
The Funny Side
© 2012 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.
Pakistani troops kill five Indian soldiers in J&KFive Indian Army soldiers were killed by Pakistani troops who crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, a police official said Tuesday...... More
Also Read: Pakistan denies killing Indian soldiers
'Not IAS Durga Shakti, another official razed mosque wall'Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Zevar and not suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who was SDM..... More
Also Read: Uttar Pradesh minister calls suspended IAS Durga Shakti a liar
If the hon'ble judge had visited the building he could have found that the building has only one exit which was manned by police and there was no possibility to escape by jumping. In such case the accused either had to be caught or had to be shot. The escape theory put up by the police does .... More
"If this activity is going on in Punjab's prisons, it's a very dangerous thing and has implications for our national security. A number of Pakistani prisoners and those linked with the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) are lodged in these prisoners. Though the social networking sites, these prisoners can link to their ..... More
