SAT dismisses RIL appeal against Sebi

The Securities Appellate Tribunal today upheld a Sebi decision rejecting Reliance Industries Ltd's application to settle alleged violations of norms to check fraudulent and unfair trade practices in the RIL-Reliance Petroleum merger case through a consent mechanism.
The tribunal said Reliance's application is not maintainable because the new consent mechanism norms are applicable with retrospective effect.
A full bench of the SAT, headed by presiding officer JP Devdhar, said the consent mechanism norms in the Sebi Act were amended with retrospective effect from April 2010.
Reliance has been contesting a show-cause notice from the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the case since December 2010 and from last year, the regulator's exclusion of the company from the new consent mechanism.