Devendar Suresh Gupta vs Securities And Exchange Board Of India

Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer

We have heard the learned counsel for the parties. The present appeal has been filed against the order dated 18th May, 2018 passed by the

Adjudicating Officer wherein a penalty of Rs.2 lakh was imposed upon the appellant for indulging in price manipulation by contributing significant LTP

variation by trading among group entities and thereby violating Regulations 3 and 4 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of

Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices relating to Securities Market) Regulations, 2003.

We find that against the same order other entities have filed appeal no.326 of 2018 Bhavesh Pabari & Ors. vs. SEBI which was dismissed by our

order dated 7th October, 2020.

In the case of the appellant the charge is one of price positive LTP variation. This aspect was considered in detail in our order dated 7th October,

2020 in appeal no.326 of 2018 Bhavesh Pabari & Ors. vs. SEBI. The controversy is primarily the same and, consequently, the issue is covered by our

judgment. Thus, we do not find any manifest error in the order passed by the Adjudicating Officer. The appeal fails and is dismissed with no order as

to costs.

The present matter was heard through video conference due to Covid-19 pandemic. At this stage it is not possible to sign a copy of this order nor a

certified copy of this order could be issued by the Registry. In these circumstances, this order will be digitally signed by the Private Secretary on

behalf of the bench and all concerned parties are directed to act on the digitally signed copy of this order. Parties will act on production of a digitally

signed copy sent by fax and/or email.