Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT):<\/b>\u00a0Justice Tarun Agarwala (Presiding Officer), Dr C.K.G. Nair (Member), and Justice M.T. Joshi (Judicial Member) allowed an appeal challenging an order by SEBI.<\/p>\n
The appellants, who are husband and wife, challenged the order of the Whole Time Member (\u2018WTM\u2019) of SEBI. They invested Rs 18,25,041 in buying the shares of VCL in 2002. They argued that the said order violates the directions given by this Tribunal by order as well as the mandate given to SEBI by the SEBI Act, 1992 in protecting the investors. Vital Communications Limited (\u2018VCL\u2019) and other companies were directed to disgorge the unlawful gain of Rs 4,55,91,232 with interest for violation of various provisions of the SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to Securities Markets) Regulations, 1995 (\u2018PFUTP Regulations, 1995\u2019) and SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to Securities Markets) Regulations, 2003 (\u2018PFUTP Regulations, 2003\u2019).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The tribunal by an earlier order had directed SEBI to look into the complaint of the appellants for alleged misleading and fraudulent advertisements issued by VCL, along with an investigation. In case SEBI finds VCL guilty of playing fraud on the investors, it may consider directing the concerned entity or VCL to refund the actual amount spent by the Appellants on purchasing the shares in question and with appropriate interest and as per law.<\/p>\n The appellants contended the following:<\/p>\n