The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition filed by former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy against Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief Madhabi Puri Buch in connection with the alleged scam of around Rs 5,100 crore in the Axis-Max Life deal.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that even though Swamy had made personal allegations against Buch, she was not even a party in his public interest litigation.
The High Court further noted that even if the SEBI Chairperson had a professional relationship with Max group in the past, it would not take away the Regulator’s obligation and duty to decide the matter in accordance with law.
The Division Bench recorded in its order that if the final decision of SEBI was in any manner influenced or affected because of the alleged erstwhile professional relationship of its Chairperson, the petitioner shall surely be entitled to agitate the said ground at that stage.
Filed on March 13, 2024, the PIL contended that Buch was an Additional Director and Director in Max Healthcare Institute Limited from February 4, 2015, to April 3, 2017. He alleged that because of this past association, SEBI was not investigating the alleged scam in the Axis-Max Life deal with promptitude.
Swami further accused Axis of making undue gains by way of transactions in shares of Max Life Insurance.
As per the plea, there was blatant fraud in Max Life Insurance and Max Financial Services allowing their shareholder, Axis Bank Limited, and its group companies Axis Securities Limited & Axis Capital Limited to make ‘undue’ profits/gains from the purchase and sale of equity shares of Max Life in a ‘non-transparent’ manner.
Swamy sought a probe by a committee of experts in the scam on the grounds that the transactions violated the mandatory directions of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
The High Court disposed of the matter after noting that the regulators (SEBI and IRDAI) were seized of the controversy and they should complete the probe as soon as possible.
The sectoral regulators were ordered that in case any further action was required to be taken, the same shall be done in accordance with law.
Swamy was represented by Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao, along with Advocates Aakanksha Kaul, Meherunnisa Aanand Jaitley, Areeb, Satya SAbharwal, Aman Sahani, Ajay Sabharwal, Tanya Arora and Aakash Saksena.
Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Kirtiman Singh withAadvocates Waize Ali Noor, Varun Pratap Singh, Varun Rajawat, Maulik Khurana and Kartika Baijal appeared for the Central government.
Senior Advocate Pratap Venugopal and Advocate Ashish Aggarwal appeared for SEBI.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohtagi and Rajiv Nayar, along with Advocates Raunak Dhillon, Madhavi Khanna and Niharika Shukla appeared for Axis Bank.
The Axis Capital was represented by Advocate Rahul Kumar.
Advocates Ramesh Babu MR, Monisha Singh, Nisha Sharma, Jagriti Bharti, Rohan Srivastava, and Tanya Chowdhary appeared for RBI.
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