Bombay HC: National Security Justifies Denial of Police Clearance Certificate  ||  Bombay HC: Comic Remarks Without Malicious Intent Not Religious Insult  ||  J&K&L High Court: Scandalous Allegations Against Judicial Officers in Pleadings Impermissible  ||  P&H HC: Writ Petition Against Private Trust's Contractual Employment Dismissed  ||  Gujarat HC: Customary Divorce Entitles Daughter to Family Pension  ||  Calcutta HC: ECI's Prerogative to Deploy Central Employees as Counting Supervisors Upheld  ||  Calling the Situation Grim, the Supreme Court Takes Suo Motu Cognizance of Delays in NCLT Approvals  ||  Supreme Court: Admission of a Claim by a Resolution Professional is Not Debt Acknowledgment  ||  Supreme Court: Public Figures Must Exercise Caution as Their Words Have Consequences in Society  ||  SC: State Must Act as a Model Employer, Criticising the Union For Not Regularising ISRO Workers    

Securities and Exchange Board of India v. Kishore R. Ajmera - (Supreme Court) (23 Feb 2016)

What degree of proof to find brokers liable for fraudulent practices

MANU/SC/0212/2016

Capital Market

The Supreme Court disposed off several appeals against the creation of artificial volumes by two brokers who matched volumes for related clients. The transactions were notable in that volume of trading in such scrips was usually minimal. The Court opined in the absence of direct substantive evidence, courts can take note of immediate and proximate facts and circumstances surrounding the events on which the charges are founded to reach a reasonable conclusion. As such, the test would be: “what inferential process that a reasonable/prudent man would adopt to arrive at a conclusion.” On the facts of the case, though voluminous trading of illiquid scrips was not impermissible per se, the Bombay Stock Exchange had cautioned against the same and asked traders to exercise caution in case of high volume of trading. When over a period of time such transactions had been made between the same set of brokers or a group of brokers a it could be reasonably concluded that there was a concerted effort to indulge in synchronized trades, which resulted in large volumes of fictitious trading, culminating in an unnatural rise in hiking the price of the scrips. By the overall conduct of brokers and their transactions could the court infer not only a lack of due care and caution but also a deliberate intention to indulge in trading beyond forbidden limits.

Relevant : Section 15J Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992

Section 24 of the Act, 1992

Tags : SEBI   MATCHED TRADING   PROOF   CIRCUMSTANTIAL  

Share :        

Disclaimer | Copyright 2026 - All Rights Reserved