The Centre, on Wednesday, opposed in the Supreme Court a plea seeking removal of SEBI Chairman U. K. Sinha on grounds of alleged irregularities in his appointment, saying the charges against him were false as he recently acted against corporates, including Sahara.
“They are obsessed with conspiracies...This man (SEBI chairman) has gone against Sahara and is looking into the case of RIL and others,” Attorney General (AG) G. E. Vahanvati submitted before a bench of justices S. S. Nijjar and Pinaki Chandra Ghose.
The AG was responding to arguments of Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Arun Kumar Agrawal, that M. Abraham, a whole-time member of SEBI, had written a letter to the Prime Minister that information regarding cases, pending with the market regulator, against some corporates was sought by the Finance Ministry.
Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran said Omita Paul, Secretary to the President, who was then advisor to the then Finance Minister, had “no role” in the appointment of Mr. Sinha as SEBI Chairman. The AG said that complete facts relating to two earlier petitions on the same issue were not disclosed to this court.
