Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 2: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Reliance Industries Limited’s appeal and those of two officials against a Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) decision upholding SEBI’s penalty over the Jio-Facebook deal.

SEBI had imposed a combined Rs 30 lakh penalty on RIL and officials Savithri Parekh and K Sethuraman in June 2022 for failing to promptly clarify media reports on Facebook’s investment in Jio Platforms. The SAT had upheld this penalty on May 2.

The top court, with Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on the bench, said the SAT findings did not merit interference and there was no substantial question of law. SEBI had noted that the company and officials delayed disclosure of unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI), issuing clarifications nearly 28 days after the media reports surfaced in March 2020.

The regulator emphasized that Reliance and its compliance officers failed to follow principles of fair disclosure under the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) regulations, which mandate prompt dissemination of UPSI.