SAT upholds Sebi order against Odyssey Corp promoter

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has upheld Sebi 's order against Alacrity Securities , a promoter of Odyssey Corporation, in a matter related to violations of disclosure norms.In May, this year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had imposed a penalty of Rs 300000 on Alacrity Securities for failure to disclose pledging of Odyssey Corp 's shares to the company and the stock exchanges.Following Sebi's ruling, Alacrity Securities which is also a registered stock broker approached SAT challenging the market regulator's order.In its order dated November 19, SAT said that its saw "no merit in this appeal and the same is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs".The SAT noted that as per norms "it was mandatory for every promoter to disclose to the company all details relating to the pledging of shares of that company held by promoter and that company was required to inform the same to all stock exchanges".Sebi had found that a client of Alacrity Securities had agreed to transfer equity shares of Odyssey Corp towards dues owed by that client to the broker. Accordingly, the shares were transferred to demat account of Alacrity Securities.Following this, Alacrity Securities pledged those shares with Canara Bank for raising finance, in 2011.However, Alacrity Securities, as a promoter of Odyssey failed to disclose details about the pledged shares and therefore violated Sebi's norms on the same.