- (1.) These appeals raise an interesting question of the interplay between section 15A, as amended in the year 2002, and Section 15J of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (in short 'the SEBI Act') .
(2.) The brief facts necessary to understand the present controversy are that the appellants before us made certain purchases of shares of the Brijlaxmi Leasing and Finance Company between October and December, 2012. On 16th June, 2014, in Civil Appeal No.14730 of 2015, a show cause notice came to be issued by the respondent SEBI to the appellant under Rule 4(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Procedure for holding inquiry and imposing penalty by adjudicating officer) Rules, 1995 for the alleged violation of the provisions of Regulations 13(4), 13(4A) and 13(5) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992.
(3.) A detailed reply was filed by the appellant to the show cause notice, on 13th August, 2014, submitting that there was no intention to violate any rule or regulation. The entire transaction value of purchases and sale of the shares did not exceed Rs.55,000/-. It was further submitted that the transaction was neither made with a view to make any disproportionate gain or unfair advantage nor was it for the purpose of causing any loss to investors. The default, if any, was a technical default that did not call for any penal action.;