HC sets aside SEBI plea in Reliance Petroleum case

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition filed by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) challenging an order of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) directing disclosure of all details related to an alleged insider trading case involving Reliance Petroleum Limited in 2007. A division bench of Justices S. J. Vazifdar and Mridula Bhatkar disposed of SEBI’s petition after it was informed that the Delhi High Court had, on January 30 this year, set aside the CIC order on a petition filed by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) against the disclosure. “Since the Delhi High Court has already set aside the order which has been challenged in SEBI’s petition also, nothing survives in this and hence can be disposed of,” Justice Vazifdar said. Senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for RIL, told the court that the Delhi High Court, while hearing a petition filed by Reliance, set aside the disclosure order and remanded the matter back to the CIC. The case relates to the merger of Reliance Petroleum with Reliance Industries and the short sale of shares in the former by entities related to the latter.