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2013 (8) TMI 1056 - AT - Companies LawUnconscionable and Unexplained delay of about 12 years for completing the proceedings by SEBI - Charge of Manipulation of Scrip Price & Creation of Artificial volumes - Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 - Merger of 3 Appeals - After prolonged and protracted proceedings, the investigation culminated into the impugned order. Whereby the Respondent has restrained the three Appellants from buying, selling or dealing in the securities market, whatsoever, directly or indirectly for a period of two years. With consent of the learned counsel for the parties concerned, these three appeals were, therefore, heard together and are being disposed of by this common order. The Respondent-SEBI is stated to have conducted some investigation into dealings in the scrip of the Company and reaching prima facie conclusion that all three Appellants had undertaken synchronized trades and thereby the Appellants are alleged to have manipulated the price of the scrip during relevant time. The Respondent also claims that there were irregular patterns in volumes of trading on the Company's scrip. the SCN was based on the trade and order logs were not supplied to the Appellant, and most of the documents, in legible form, were supplied only after more than 10/11 years of occurrence of the event. HELD THAT:- The court quashed and set aside the impugned order in each case and allow the three appeals on merit as well as on the ground of unconscionable and unexplained delay of about 12 years in initiating and completing the proceedings against the three Appellants in question. Regarding the abnormality in the volume of the scrip as a result of the Appellants' trades. The court observed that the SCN as well as documents, other material and certain graphs produced by the parties before us. The facts clearly indicate that fluctuations of a similar nature in the volumes of the scrip existed even during the period when the Appellants did not execute any trade. The SCN itself makes it clear that there were ups and downs in the volume during the preceding and subsequent six months of the period of investigation in question. Therefore, we find that the charge of volume manipulation is also hollow and baseless. Also the existence of unnatural and unexplained delay of more than a decade and prejudice caused due to such undue delay is writ large in the matter. Therefore, the impugned order deserves to be quashed on this ground as well.
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