UK Sinha

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas CAM has hired UK Sinha, former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief of 6 years, as a senior advisor to lead its newly-established Corporate Governance Center (CGC).

The Supreme Court has, for the third time, upheld the appointment of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman UK Sinha, Mint reported.

Dismissing a September 2012 petition filed by a Bangalore-based financial expert alleging irregularities in the process of his appointment, a bench of justices SS Nijjar and PC Ghose said that even though the petition was worth dismissing on several grounds they chose to examine the issue to “satisfy [their] judicial conscience”

In substance the petition had asserted that rules were bent to select Sinha to the chair.

In Friday’s 87-page order the judges accused the petitioners of being “stool pigeons” of powerful corporate lobbies, reported the Business Standard. They said: “We are unable to easily discard the reasoning. The anxiety of these business houses for the removal of the present Sebi chairman is not wholly unimaginable. We have been left with the very unsavoury impression that the petition is more for the protection of the vested interests of some unidentified business lobbies.”

Bangalore-based financial expert challenges SEBI chairman UK Sinha’s appointment to the SEBI chair in the Supreme Court through advocate Prashant Bhushan

In the petition he has questioned Sinha’s integrity, denial of extension to the previous chairman, and his alleged leniency toward corporate lobbyists facing action. The petition alleges that Sinha committed fraud on the Search and Selection Committee and the parliamentary Appointment Committee. Sinha allegedly concealed emoluments of over Rs 4 crore received as CMD of UTI Asset management.

The petitioner has asked for his removal from the SEBI chair and for a criminal investigation into his appointment at the asset management company.

Secretary to the president Omita Paul, the central government, SEBI, the chief vigilance commissioner, and the CBI have also been made respondents in the petition.

Two previous petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the appointment process behind instating Sinha were dismissed by a bench headed by the Chief Justice [Business Standard]