Government questions petition against SEBI chief

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) The government Wednesday questioned a petitioner’s purpose behind challenging the appointment of U.K. Sinha as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Questioning the reason for Arun Kumar Aggarwal to file the petition, Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati told the apex court bench of Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose that the public interest litigation “petitioner should come before the court with clean hands and full disclosure of the facts”.

Vahanvati told the court that Aggarwal had not disclosed that two petitions with similar prayers were filed before the apex court and were dismissed as withdrawn.

The attorney general told the court that Aggarwal had also filed a petition challenging the appointment of earlier SEBI chairman D.R. Mehta.

“When you are a PIL litigant espousing the cause of public interest you are supposed to have a maximum candour and the candour is the bonafide,” Vahanvati said.

The petition is seeking the quashing of the appointment of Sinha on the grounds that his appointment was vitiated due to several alleged irregularities.

Questioning the integrity to Sinha, counsel Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for Aggarwal, told the court that “he lacks integrity as he made series of false statements in order to seek SEBI chairmanship”.

The court would next hear the case April 23.

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