Following a petition filed by chairman emeritus of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Subhash Chandra, challenging the nature of SEBI’s (Securities and Exchange Board of India) summons in an alleged fund diversion case, SEBI has agreed to refrain from taking any action against Chandra for a three-week period, as per the court’s directive.
The Bombay High Court has granted SEBI two weeks to respond to Chandra’s petition.
The order is a temporary halt in legal proceedings and comes a respite for Chandra amidst the ongoing dispute.
Additionally, SEBI has also said that they might issue a corrigendum addressing the concerns raised by Chandra regarding the summons.
“We keep all the contentions in that regard expressly open,” SEBI said in their undertaking.
SEBI issued multiple summons to Chandra earlier this year.
On January 16, just days before the extended deadline of the Zee-Sony merger, Chandra also wrote to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. In the letter, he expressed concerns about perceived efforts to sabotage the merger and sensationalise the ongoing investigations. Among other things the letter mentions SEBI acting with a ‘predetermined mind’.
Last week at the SAT (Securities and Appellate Tribunal) hearing SEBI informed the tribunal that Chandra had concealed crucial details in the alleged case of fund diversion involving Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
Also read: SEBI accuses Subhash Chandra of concealing details in Zee fund diversion case
The hearing continued on March 19, where the tribunal reserved its order to grant interim relief to Chandra.
Also read: SAT reserves order to grant interim relief to Subhash Chandra in SEBI case