Securities Appellate Tribunal adjourns NSE co-location matter to 18 September; Sebi seeks more time to reply to petitions

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) Monday adjourned the NSE co-location matter to 18 September after capital markets regulator Sebi sought additional time to submit replies on a bunch of petitions. A division bench of SAT presided over by Justice Tarun Agarwala, member CKG Nair and judicial member Justice MT Joshi adjourned the matter after the Sebi sought more time to file its replies to the petitions challenging its order. The matter pertains to one of the biggest orders passed by the Sebi on 30 April against NSE officials, including former heads Chitra Ramakrishna and Ravi Narain, in the co-location case, where the largest stock bourse was found guilty of providing preferential treatment to select brokers. The former heads of NSE, other officials and finally NSE moved the SAT against the order. The SAT had on 22 May stayed Sebi rulings that directed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to disgorge profits of over Rs 6250000000 in the co-location case. It had directed the bourse to deposit Rs 6250000000 with the Sebi in two weeks and given time to the regulator to file replies. In April, the Sebi directed the exchange to disgorge profits of over Rs 1,0000000000 and imposed a six-month ban on launching new derivative products besides taking action against other entities, including some current and former officials. The amount includes disgorgement of Rs 6250000000 profit derived from dissemination of data in the co-location case. The tribunal has also ordered the exchange to initiate an inquiry against its staff to find out if they had given any treatment preferential in terms of access to market data to certain brokers. The NSE told the tribunal that it would not come out with an initial public offering for next six months in compliance with the Sebi order. In the co-location case, the regulator had barred the exchange from accessing the securities market for six months.