The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday will take up an appeal filed by Quantum Securities challenging an order passed by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). The outcome of this case could decide the fate of several orders passed in recent months by the tribunal, a quasi-judicial body which hears pleas of entities aggrieved by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. The case pertains to an order passed by SAT in a matter related to NDTV. Quantum Securities is a shareholder in the media company. Vishvapradhan had acquired indirect control of NDTV through a loan agreement in 2009. The Delhi-based wholesale trading firm had told the regulator that it had sourced the loan from Reliance Strategic Investment Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited. The firm is currently owned by the Nahata Group. In June, Sebi came out with an order directing Vishvapradhan to makes an open offer with 10 per cent annual interest to its minority shareholders. Vishvapradhan subsequently moved SAT, which stayed the Sebi order. Quantum Securities has now moved the apex court against this stay granted by a single member SAT bench. Quantum had challenged an order passed by SAT dated August 13 on the grounds that the order was passed by a single-member bench of SAT who was a non-judicial member Rules say appeals filed against regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in SAT need to be taken up by a bench that consists of aleast one judicial member and one technical member.
SC ruling on Quantum Securities plea could impact recent orders by SAT
