Markets regulator amends eligibility criteria for executive director's post

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has amended the eligibility criteria for the post of executive director (ED), by restricting the position to internal candidates working only as legal professionals.

This means that candidates with a legal background cannot apply for ED positions that are vacant in the general stream.

The move comes ahead of the interview of internal candidates for the post of two EDs in the general stream, scheduled for August 13.

At present, at ED level, Sebi’s regulations don't formally recognise any particular stream or specialisation.

Amending the Employees Service Regulations, the government in a gazette notification dated August 5 said, “Internal candidates from grade F of all streams, except the legal stream, with minimum three years of service in the said grade will be promoted.”

Under new rules, the legal stream has been excluded from the general stream. Those applying for ED (law) position will require the minimum qualification of LLB from a recognised university with a minimum of 20 years of post-qualification experience in law, the gazette notification says.

The issue was recently brought up by Sebi’s employee association following an advertisement for ED's post.

The letter addressed to chairman Ajay Tyagi on June 26, sought appropriate changes in the service regulations to reflect stream-wise posts for EDs.

“In order to maintain and further improve the standards delivered by Sebi, the specialised nature of work must be recognised as such and specialisation should be encouraged and rewarded. It is therefore of utmost urgency that stream-wise specialisation be recognised up to the level of ED, as has been done in the case of ED (law), before any further appointments are made,” the letter noted.

Earlier, Sebi worked with only three EDs and hence, it wasn’t though necessary to separate special streams. However, the total sanctioned strength for the ED's post has now increased to 9. As a result, it was thought imperative to create specialisations. In the past, Sebi delayed filling the post of ED Legal citing lack of suitable candidates.

Sources said that excluding legal from the general stream could be an attempt to have specialised nature of work. However, personnel with legal background would only get limited scope as maximum two position of total nine ED posts to be filed by legal stream.

The position - ED (law) - in Sebi was created in 2018. Earlier, the regulator mainly worked with three EDs. who were not categorised into any particular stream. For instance, incumbent whole time member Ananta Barua got promoted as executive director in 2010 in general cadre, despite being a law graduate and a legal advisor of Sebi. He was given investment management. At that time, J Ranganayakulu was heading Sebi’s Legal Affairs Department.

Currently, there are 8 EDs at Sebi, of which the contracts of two — Sujit Prasad and Anand Baiwar — are ending in October and November, respectively.