The Bombay High Court today granted a stay on the order of a special PMLA court directing the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to file an FIR against former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and other SEBI and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) officials in connection with a listing fraud case.
Single-judge Justice S.G. Dighe granted relief after Ms Buch and two others approached the court challenging the order. The High Court prima facie observed that the special court’s order was passed mechanically without going into the details or attributing any role to Buch and others.
The court was hearing a plea against the special court’s directive to the ACB to register an FIR against Ms Buch and five others over alleged irregularities in the 1994 listing of a company on the BSE.
“It appears that the Learned Judge has passed the order mechanically without going into the details and without attributing any specific role to all the applicants, hence order is stayed till the next date,” ordered Justice Shivkumar Dige, granting four weeks’ time to the complainant to file a reply on the petitions filed by the six.
On Saturday, special ACB judge S E Bangar had directed the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to file an FIR based on a complaint by Dombivali resident Sapan Shrivastava, who alleged that he and his family had suffered losses after investing in Cal Refineries