A three-member bench dismissed Sebi’s plea by a 2:1 majority opinion.
According to the recent order, uploaded by the court registry last Friday, the then Chief Justice of India, UU Lalit, favoured the issue of notice in Sebi’s petition, while Justices JK Maheshwari and Hima Kohli did not agree with it. “In view of the majority opinion, the review petition stands dismissed,” it said.
In its August 5 order, the court had directed Sebi to share with
Industries copies of a report by chartered accountant YH Malegam and the first and second opinions given by retired SC judge BN Srikrishna in a two-decade-old case.
These documents are related to a 2002 complaint filed by S Gurumurthy with Sebi against Reliance, its associate companies and directors.
The complaint alleged that Reliance had fraudulently allotted 120 million equity shares to entities purportedly connected with the promoters, and that the allotment had been funded by Reliance and other group companies.
Sebi filed a petition on September 29, seeking a review of the order.
“After careful perusal of the averments made in the Review Petition, in my opinion, no plausible ground to entertain the petition, or to review the judgment dated 05.08.2022 is made out. The grounds urged do not fall within the limited parameters of review jurisdiction,” Justice Maheshwari said in his order.
