Ashok Chawla resigned as the chairman and public interest director of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed a Delhi court that the Centre had given the go-ahead to prosecute five people, including Mr. Chawla, in the Aircel-Maxis matter.
“Ashok Chawla has resigned as public interest director/chairman of the board of directors of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) with immediate effect in [the] light of recent legal developments,” the NSE said in a statement.
Apart from Mr. Chawla, the Aircel-Maxis matter has brought under the scanner serving and former bureaucrats, including the then Secretary (Economic Affairs) Ashok Jha, the then Joint Secretary in Finance Ministry Kumar Sanjay Krishna, the then director in the Ministry Dipak Kumar Singh, and the then Under Secretary in the Ministry Ram Sharan.
An element of uncertainty was hanging over Mr. Chawla's role as the NSE chairman ever since the CBI filed a charge sheet in July last year. Recently, he stepped down as the non-executive chairman of Yes Bank.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was also following the matter since the charge sheet was filed last year but decided to wait and watch till the government's approval was received to prosecute the persons named in the matter.
