The SEBI included Reliance Industries and a handful
of its units on a list of 149 companies or individuals whose requests to settle
market rules violation cases with financial payments had been rejected, a
notice issued late on Thursday showed.
For full list click link.reuters.com/fan94t
A Reliance spokesman declined to
comment on the SEBI announcement.
The dispute with Reliance stems from
SEBI's investigation into suspected insider trading when the energy conglomerate
sold stock futures of Reliance Petroleum before folding the unit into its
operations.
Reliance Industries has denied engaging
in any insider trading in that transaction.
SEBI amended its procedures for
so-called consent applications, or requests for out-of-court settlements, in
May 2012, effectively banning the use of monetary payments to resolve suspected
cases of market rule violations, including insider trading.
The regulatory changes followed
criticism that consent orders were being inappropriately used by those under
investigation to avoid potentially more damaging rulings by the regulator on
wrongdoing.
Uncertainty had remained, however, over
whether consent applications such as Reliance Industries' that were submitted
before the rule change would be allowed to go ahead.
Although the possibility of a
settlement under the old consent applications has been removed, the regulator's
brief statement said only that proceedings would continue in accordance with
the law, offering no clues on how much longer the case might drag on.
Reliance shares in Mumbai had edged
down 0.4 percent as of 1:25 p.m., compared with a 0.5 percent gain in the NSE's
energy subindex.
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