Sec. 23A of Depositories Act, 1996 deals with the appeal to Securities Appellate Tribunal. It provides that any person aggrieved by an order of the Board made (except an order made by the Board with the consent of the parties for which no appeal shall lie) on and after the commencement of the Securities Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 1999, under this Act or the regulations made there under, or by an order made by an Adjudicating Officer under this Act, may prefer an appeal to a Securities Appellate tribunal having jurisdiction in the matter.
The appeal shall be filed within a period of forty five days from the date on which a copy of the order made by the Board is received by the person and it shall in such form and be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed. The Securities Appellate Tribunal may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of forty five days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period.
On receipt of an appeal the Securities Appellate Tribunal ('SAT' for short) may, after giving the parties to the appeal an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit, confirming, modifying or setting aside the order appealed against. The SAT shall send a copy of every order made by it to the Board and to the parties to the appeal.
The appeal filed before SAT shall be dealt with by it as expeditiously as possibly and endeavor shall be made by it to dispose of the appeal finally within six month date of receipt of the appeal.
Sec. 24(2)(d) of the Depositories of Act gives powers to the Central Government to make rules in the following in respect of filing appeal before SAT:
* The form in which an appeal may be filed before SAT under Section 23A.
In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 24 read with Section 23A of the Depositories Act, 1996 the Central Government made 'Depositories (Appeals to Securities Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 2000.
LIMITATION:
Rule 3 provides that an appeal may be preferred by the aggrieved person within a period of forty five days from the date on which a copy of the order, made by the Board under the Act or the regulations made there under, is received by the person. The SAT may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of forty five days, if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period.
PROCEDURE:
The following is the procedure stipulated in the Rules in filing an appeal before SAT:
A memorandum of appeal shall be presented in the Form by an aggrieved person in the registry of the SAT within whose jurisdiction his case falls or shall be sent by registered post addressed to the Registrar;
A memorandum of appeal sent by post shall be deemed to have been presented in the registry on the day it was received in the registry;
Every appeal, application, reply, representation or any document filed before SAT shall be typewritten, cyclostyled or printed neatly and legibly on the side of the good quality of paper of foolscap size in double space and separate sheets shall be stitched together and every page shall be consecutively numbered and filed;
Every memorandum of appeal shall be accompanied with a fee as detailed below:
Amount of penalty imposed if it is less than Rs.10,000 - Fee - Rs.500/-;
Amount of penalty imposed if it is 10000 or more but less than one lakh - Fee is Rs.1200/-
Amount of penalty imposed if it is more than one lakh - Rs.12000 plus Rs.500 for every additional one lakh of penalty or fraction thereof subject to a maximum of Rs.1,50,000/-
Every memorandum of appeal shall set forth concisely under distinct heads, the grounds of such appeal without any argument or narrative and such ground shall be numbered consecutively;
Every memorandum of appeal shall be presented in five sets in a paper book along with the empty size file envelope bearing full address of the respondent and in case the respondents are more than one, then sufficient number of extra paper books together with the empty file size envelope bearing full addresses of each respondent shall be furnished by the appellant;
Every memorandum of appeal shall be accompanied with copies of the order, at least one of which shall be a certified copy, against which the appeal is filed;
Where a party is represented by authorized representative, a copy of the authorization to act as the authorized representative and the written consent thereto by such authorized representative, shall be appended to the appeal;
The authorized representative may be any one among the following as per Sec. 23C of Depositories Act, 1966:
* Chartered Accountant;
* Company Secretary;
* Cost Accountant;
* Legal Practitioner.
A memorandum of appeal shall not seek relief or reliefs therein against more than one order unless the reliefs prayed for are consequential.
The Registrar shall endorse on every appeal the date on which it is presented or deemed to have been presented under the rule and shall sign endorsement;
If on scrutiny, the appeal is found to be in order, it shall duly registered and given a serial number;
If an appeal on scrutiny is found to be defective and the defect noticed is formal in nature, the Registrar may allow the appellant to rectify the same in his presence and if the said defect is not formal in nature, the Registrar may allow the appellant such time to rectify the defect as he may deem fit. If the appeal has been sent by post and found to be defective, the Registrar may communicate the defects to the appellant and allow the appellant such time to rectify the defect as he may deem fit;
If the appellant fails to rectify the defect within the time allowed the Registrar may by order and for reasons recorded to be in writing decline to register such memorandum of appeal and communicate the order the appellant within seven days thereof;
An appeal against the order of the Registrar aforesaid, shall be made within 15 days of receiving of such order to the Presiding Officer or in his temporary absence to the Member authorized whose decision thereon shall be final;
Copy of the memorandum of appeal and paper book shall be served by the Registrar on the respondent as soon as they registered in the registry, by hand delivery, or by Registered post or by Speed post;
The respondent may file five complete sets containing the reply to the appeal along with the documents in a paper book form with the registry within one month of the service of the notice on him of the filing of the memorandum of appeal;
Every reply, application or written representation filed before SAT shall be verified in the manner provided for, in the Form;
A copy of every application, reply, document or written material filed by the respondent before the SAT shall be forthwith served on the appellant by the respondent;
The proceedings of the SAT shall be conducted in English or Hindi;
No appeal, application, representation, document or other matters contained in any language other than English or Hindi shall be accepted by the SAT, unless the same is accompanied by a true copy of translation thereof in English or Hindi.
The Appellate Tribunal shall notify the parties the date of hearing of the appeal in such manner as the Presiding Officer may by general or specific order direct;
On the fixed day or on any other day to which the hearing may be adjourned, the appellant shall be heard in support of the appeal. The Appellate Tribunal shall then, if necessary, hear the Board or its authorized representative against the appeal and in such case the appellant shall be entitled to reply. During the course of the hearing the appeal the written arguments could be supplemented by time bound oral arguments;
In case the appellant does not appear in person or through authorized representative when the appeal is called for hearing, the Appellate Tribunal may dispose of the appeal on merits;
Where an appeal has been disposed of as provided above and the appellant appears afterwards and satisfies the Appellate Tribunal that there was sufficient cause for his non appearance when the appeal was called for hearing, the Appellate Tribunal shall make an order setting aside the ex-parte order and restore the appeal;
Every order of the Appellate Tribunal shall be signed and dated by the Presiding Officer and two other members. The Presiding Officer will have powers to pass such interim orders or injunctions, subject to be recorded in writing, which it considers necessary in the interest of justice;
A certified copy of the Appellate Tribunal shall be communicated to the Board, the Adjudicating authorities and to the parties, as the case may be;
The Appellate Tribunal may make such orders or give such directions as may be necessary as expedient to give effect to its orders or to prevent abuse of its process or to secure the ends of justice;
