CHENNAI: SEBI dillydallying on activist’s RTI plea

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on OCtober 7, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/sebi-dillydallying-on-activist%E2%80%99s-rti-plea/320779.html

CHENNAI: Despite the Central Information Commission’s clear-cut order to provide details sought under RTI by a Chennai-based activist, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has been dillydallying and provided only  half the information, just to comply with the CIC’s order.

With the National Stock Exchange (NSE) not covered under the RTI Act, R Natarajan, a city-based research scholar and RTI activist, had moved an application with SEBI. The board being the regulator of stock exchanges, he had asked for details about transactions between Chennai-based Kass Securities and NSE, after the former mismanaged his friends’ fund deposit in the form of shares for brokering to the tune of Rs 34 lakh.

It all started in 2008 when Natarajan approached the NSE for getting his friends’ (Mohini Devi and Prahalad Rai) fund that was mismanaged by Kass Securities, a registered brokering firm with NSE. As the NSE was reluctant to take up his case, Natarajan approached the NSE-appointed Arbitration Committee and got an award in his favour in 2009.

Despite the clear order from its own Arbitration Committee that ordered NSE to give back the Rs 34 lakh to Natarajan’s friends, NSE dillydallied on his plea and the delay has forced him to take the RTI route to unearth the transactions between Kass Securities and NSE that led to mismanagement.

Despite his repeated RTI pleas, both the public information officer and the appellate authority of SEBI gave evasive and ambiguous replies.Irked over the denial of information, Natarajan moved the Central Information Commission, New Delhi, which in turn ordered the SEBI to provide him the photocopy of the complaints and footnotes pertaining to Kass Securities and NSE.

“Instead of providing me the documents mentioned in the order, SEBI provided me some documents which even do not have any signature or footnotes,” Natarajan said.

“Though the SEBI is now claiming that they complied with the CIC’s order, the information provided are not full and I am planning to move further appeal,” Natarajan added.