L&T case: Sebi to refund fine to Reliance

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has set aside order passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) imposing a fine of Rs 4.7500000 on Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for not disclosing information on its stake in Larsen and Toubro Limited (Land T) and asked the capital market regulator to refund the penalty amount to the company. SAT, in its order dated August 31, 2004, said the breach could not be called as deliberate and the non-disclosure was due to lack of understanding of law. Hence, the impunged order is set aside. ‘‘The tribunal does not think that the appellant (RIL) had deliberately suppressed information with ulterior motive and it was a mere technical lapse,’’ SAT said. RIL held over 5% stake in Land T since 1988-89 and it had made disclosures under Sebi takeover code in 1997. However, some of the shares were sold by RIL later, bringing down its stake in Land T to 4.98% at the end of June 2001, SAT said in its order. Following purchase of some more shares, the RIL stake in Land T crossed 5% stipulated mark on November 5, 2001.