Today, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) rejected an appeal by Zee Entertainment’s Punit Goenka and Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra challenging the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s 12 June order that bars them from holding a position in the board of any listed company.

A single-headed bench of Justice Tarun Agarwala while upholding the Sebi’s order, has given the duo two weeks to file their reply in the matter.

The Court also directed SEBI to give a hearing to both Goenka and Chandra and thereafter directed the regulator to pass an order.

According to the market regulator’s order, the father-son duo were restrained from holding any key managerial positions in any listed entities for alleged siphoning off funds.

SEBI had also stated that Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka had allegedly abused their positions for personal financial gain. Aggrieved by the regulator’s order, the duo moved SAT.

On 27 June, after hearing an arguement from both the parties, the Court reserved its order in the matter.

In their plea before the SAT, it was stated that the SEBI order involved a violation of the principles of natural justice. Adding that no show-cause notice was issued to the two before the SEBI order was passed. Goenka and Chandra had filed the appeal to effectively set aside the impugned order.

Essentially, Goenka had submitted that there was no such glaring ‘urgency’ which required Sebi to pass an ex-parte order granting a post-decisional hearing.

“This appeal is not on ‘merits’ but it is more to do with the procedure adopted in the current case. Given an opportunity we would have much to say about the conclusions that have been reached by Sebi in the impugned order", senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas argued while representing Goenka in the matter.