SAT adjourns DLF appeal to Feb 6

The Securities Appellate Tribunal on Friday heard some arguments on Friday in real estate major DLF’s appeal against the heavy penalty imposed on it last year by the stock market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).The matter will next be heard on February 6.

The tribunal heard arguments by counsel for Sebi. Counsel for DLF answered queries the tribunal had previously sought clarification on, beside making its arguments against the Sebi order. Sebi had barred the company and key officials from acessing the stock market for three years, in a matter relating to disclosures made at the time of its initial public offering (IPO) in 2007. An IPO is a process by which companies raise money by sale of shares to the public for the first time.

One Kimsuk Krishna Sinha had alleged a DLF subsidiary was involved in a land deal in which he was said to have been duped of Rs 34 crore. A police case was registered. Sebi said that investors should have been informed of this at the time of the IPO, which was not done.

In earlier hearings, Sinha sought to be made a part of the appeal. He had alleged he was not heard by the regulator despite making the original complaint. The tribunal had turned down the petition. Subse-quently, the Sup-reme Court allowed it. The earlier hearings also involved a move by DLF to access capital invested in mutual funds. MF units also come under the definition of securities. Fund houses had declined to refund their capital, citing the ban. This was later allowed.

DLF Ltd