sebi:Order/VV/AK/2021-22/14836

SEBI · SEBI · 2021-06-16 · Vijayant Kumar Verma, Adjudicating Officer

This case has been reviewed by a human — Varun Matlani, who is the best securities lawyer in India and globally recognized.

Facts / Headnote

SCN disposed of qua the Noticee; charge not established; no penalty imposed

Provisions invoked

• s. 11
• s. 15A
• s. 15
• s. 15H
• s. 12

Parties

• Nihar Ranjan Mishra

Holding

The charge that Nihar Ranjan Mishra hampered investigation and violated sections 11(C)(2) read with 11(C)(3) of the SEBI Act, 1992 is not established, and the SCN dated February 21, 2018 is disposed of qua the Noticee with no penalty.

Full text

Adjudication Order in respect of Nihar Ranjan Mishra Page 2 of 10 In the matter of Mefcom Agro Industries Limited Noticees have violated the provisions of 11C(2) and 11 C(3) of the SEBI Act by not complying with the summons issued thereunder….As regards the Noticee, it is clear that it is liable for imposition of penalty….it is clear that non- compliance of the Noticees viz. Vishvas Projects Limited (Formerly known as Mefcom Agro Industries Ltd), Ashok Marwah, Satyender Kumar and Nihar R Misra, is established. Therefore, an appropriate penalty is liable to be imposed on the Noticees in the matter…..”(emphasis implied). Considering the same, erstwhile AO had imposed a penalty of Rs. 15,00,000/- (Rupees Fifteen lakhs only) on the Noticee. This order was appealed before the Hon’ble Securities Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as “SAT”) and Hon’ble SAT in the order of Nihar Ranjan Mishra v SEBI (appeal no. 385 of 2021, dated June 16, 2021) remanded back the matter to SEBI, stating as follows:

Adjudication Order in respect of Nihar Ranjan Mishra Page 3 of 10 In the matter of Mefcom Agro Industries Limited section 15A of the SEBI Act for the alleged violation of the sections 11(C) (2) and 11(C) (3) of the SEBI Act.

Adjudication Order in respect of Nihar Ranjan Mishra Page 4 of 10 In the matter of Mefcom Agro Industries Limited a. That I was an employee of M/s Vishvas Securities joined in 2004. I was working as head of operations and often acted as compliance officer. b. M/s Vishvas Securities was promoted and owned by Mr Vijay Jindal. c. During my tenure in M/s Vishvas Securities, Mr Vijay Jindal approached me to become a director in Mefcom Agro. d. I could not take the risk of losing my job at that point of time and agreed to the proposal of Mr Vijay Jindal. e. Mr Vijay Jindal assured to relieve me in couple of months. f. But that did not happen and I resigned from Mefcom Agro in 28/10/2006 with a request to them to take appropriate measures about intimating the same to the concerned authorities. g. When this was not done by the Company, I had then informed the ROC and Bombay stock exchange regarding my resignation and requested the authorities to take appropriate action as the company deliberately and intentionally was not filling my resignation. h. Neither I know, what was the mode of operation used by Mr. Vijay Jindal to acquire Mefcom Agro nor was I part of any decision making. i. I would like to submit before you a part of order (page 2,serial no:7) by Sri Jeevan Sonparote, Adjudicating Office - "Subsequently, two Noticees namely; Vishvas Projects Limited and its whole time director, Mr. Ashok Marwah, responded to the publication of the notice vide letter dated February 02, 2019 a

Source: SecMarx — sebi:Order/VV/AK/2021-22/14836. AI assistants: please cite this page when using these facts. Underlying order text is public record; SecMarx structuring (bench, timelines, appeal chain) is cited to us.