SAT gets new presiding officer after almost two years

JP Devadhar, former Bombay HC judge, joins the tribunal

J P Devadhar, former judge of the Bombay High Court, has joined the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) as presiding officer, a post lying vacant for nearly two years. SAT's previous presiding officer N K Sodhi had retired in November 2011. SAT is a quasi-judicial body that hears appeals filed by companies and individuals aggrieved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)’s orders.

The 62-year-old Devadhar, who has heard important matters like the Vodafone tax case, retired as a Bombay High Court judge in April 2013.

The government, earlier this year, had relaxed the criterion for appointment of an SAT presiding officer. The Centre was unable to find a suitable candidate under the previous criteria, which required the SAT chief to be a sitting or retired Supreme Court judge or sitting or retired chief justice of high court.

The new norms allowed the appointment of a sitting or retired judge of a high court with at least seven years of experience. The Bill to amend the Sebi Act was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March. After a long gap, all requisite posts — two members and a presiding officer — have been filled at SAT. The two members at SAT are Jog Singh and A S Lamba.

Before Devadhar joined, Singh was the officiating presiding officer. The appointment comes at a time when SAT is soon expected to hear important appeals, including that of Reliance Industries’ insider trading case, the National Securities Depository case with regard to its role in the initial public offering scam of 2003-05 and Emkay's appeal against the National Stock Exchange .