Sebi extends undertaking about not taking action against Subhash Chandra till April 30

Sebi’s response came on a writ petition filed by Chandra, chairman emeritus of , on March 5 challenging the summons issued to him in connection with an ongoing probe by the market regulator.

Chandra has primarily argued in the case that the summons issued by the market watchdog contained allegations, communicated in a language that indicated that they had already been proven and sought the court's intervention to declare the summons illegal and void.

On Wednesday, senior counsel Mustafa Doctor, appearing for Sebi, informed the court that the regulator is willing to extend the undertaking that it would not take any action till April 30 with regards to the summons.

A division bench of Justice GS Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh Phiroze Pooniwalla has adjourned the matter further to April 30.

Originally in January, Sebi had issued summons against Chandra concerning its ongoing investigation regarding the alleged fund diversion case. Chandra has approached the court challenging those summons.

In addition to Sebi, Chandra has named the Department of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and as respondents in the matter.

In this case, senior counsels Ravi Kadam and Prateek Seksaria along with law firm Economic Laws Practice (ELP) are representing Chandra. Law firm K. Ashar & Co is representing Sebi, while senior advocate Janak Swarkadas and Nitesh Jain of law firm Trilegal are representing Zee.

In a related development, Chandra has also appealed at the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) against the capital market regulator’s confirmatory order of August 2023, which had restrained him from taking any key managerial position in any listed entities.