The Bombay High Court has allowed Subhash Chandra, Chairman Emeritus, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd to not respond to the summons issued by SEBI in January but has asked him to provide any information or documents sought by the market regulator in the subsequent communication in March.
Subhash Chandra had filed a writ petition against the summons dated 12th January 2024, issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI); stating that the summons did not comply with the provisions of the SEBI Act, contained pre-determined and conclusive allegations and were in the nature of a show-cause notice.
SEBI informed the Court that going forward, the final order will be passed by an official other than the whole-time member, Ashwani Bhatia, for the matters pertaining to Chandra and ZEE to ensure that there is no element of bias as alleged by Chandra.
The markets regulator is investigating an alleged fund diversion by Chandra and his son Punit Goenka, who is also the managing director (MD) and the chief executive officer of Zee Entertainment.