In Brief
The Securities and Exchange Board of India appealed against a Tribunal order setting aside an interim order directing a company's CEO to deposit Rs 3.83 crore—representing the notional gain from insider trading in the company's shares. SEBI had passed the ex-parte order in June 2020 based on trades executed three years earlier in 2016. The Supreme Court upheld the Tribunal's decision, holding that while SEBI has statutory power to pass ex-parte interim orders, such power must be exercised only in cases of extreme urgency. Since the investigation had been pending since 2017 and the respondent had already been called for information, no such urgency existed. The Court affirmed the Tribunal's order setting aside the interim deposit directive."
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