Indore/New Delhi: Securities and Exchange Board of India has imposed a total penalty of Rs 3.15 crore on 32 entities, including several present and ex-promoters of Sayaji Hotels, for violating capital market norms. This includes norms pertaining to disclosure requirements.
The SEBI has levied a fine of Rs 10 lakh on them for disclosure lapses. In addition, the market regulator has slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh on promoter Suchitra Dhanani for not complying with disclosure norms as required under PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations. According to a SEBI order dated March 28, the promoter group (comprising 32 entities) had twice failed to make a public announcement as required under Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers (SAST) Regulations with regard to acquisition of shares of Sayaji Hotels.
It had not made a public announcement for the acquisition of 0.40 percent of the share capital of Sayaji Hotels during April–June 2005 and another 10.52 percent during January–March 2006. As per the order, the promoter group’s shareholding had decreased from 57.77 percent to 42.43 percent during July–September 2005. It had failed to make relevant disclosures to the stock exchange as required under SAST Regulations during the period July-September 2005 and January-March 2006 when it had sold and acquired shares, respectively.
The order also noted that Suchitra Dhanani, one of the promoters, had also failed to disclose the change in her shareholding (from 7.63 percent to 2.54 percent) to the company during quarter ended September 2005 and violated Prohibition of Insider Trading Regulations .
“Non-compliance with disclosure requirements by a promoter group of the listed company undermines the regulatory objectives and jeopardises the achievement of the underlying policy goals,” SEBI said in its order. Besides Suchitra, other promoters in the list of 32 include Anisha Dhanani, Bipasha Dhanani, Ahilya Hotels, Kayum Dhanani, Sadika Md I Memon, Excellent Estate Developers, Bharat Equity Services, Liberty Construction and Leasing, Habibunisha Dhanani, Gulshan I Memon, Shamim Dhanani, Shaji Nair and Subhash Pandit.