SAT Rejects SEBI’s Review Plea In Schneider Delisting Case
[ By Bobby Anthony ]The Securities & Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has rejected a review petition filed by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in a matter involving investor complaints against Schneider Electric President Systems.The SEBI had filed its review with SAT on February 7 against an order passed by the SAT in November 2019.In its November 2019 verdict regarding Schneider...
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The Securities & Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has rejected a review petition filed by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in a matter involving investor complaints against Schneider Electric President Systems.
The SEBI had filed its review with SAT on February 7 against an order passed by the SAT in November 2019.
In its November 2019 verdict regarding Schneider Electric President Systems, SAT had observed that none of the authorities, including the SEBI and the stock exchanges, had discharged “any of their responsibilities”, including listing or monitoring the exit opportunity to shareholders of a company listed on regional stock exchanges (RSEs).
The SAT observed that the SEBI’s treatment of the case and the exchanges made it wonder “if public shareholders of RSE-listed companies were children of a lesser god”.
Incidentally, Schneider was listed on the Bangalore and Pune stock exchanges, both of which closed down.
In their application to the SAT, Schneider’s shareholders had provided detailed evidence of how Schneider did not make any effort to list on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) or the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after the closure of the Bangalore and Pune stock exchanges.
“Instead of carrying out at least an examination, the SEBI treated these representations as just ordinary SEBI Complaints Redress System (SCORES) complaints like individual investors’ complaints such as non-receipt of shares, dividend etc,” the SAT order stated.
“The SEBI and national level stock exchanges adopted a completely unconcerned approach and directed the appellants to approach the Bangalore Stock Exchange and Pune Stock Exchange (which are not even functional) or the company Schneider (which itself is against the public shareholders),” the SAT order stated.
“What appears on record is that Schneider prepared a plan of exit, got a valuation done and provided an exit option. No authority seems to have discharged any of their responsibilities including monitoring,” the SAT order stated.
