The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) granted an interim stay on orders passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) against three senior officials of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday.

The regulator in its order had said that the three officials -- Ravi Varanasi, head of business development, Nagendra Kumar, head of membership department and Deviprasad Singh, head of co-location support --- were guilty of colluding with stock brokers Way2Wealth Brokers and GKN Securities, leading to the latter gaining an unfair advantage over other brokers in access of price feed.

Sebi has barred the three officials from holding any position with any stock exchange, depository, clearing corporation and any intermediary registered with it for two years. Varanasi was barred from holding a position with a listed company for three years.

“The three employees are not further up the chain to the extent that they can disclaim knowledge of what has transpired. They have been all in one manner or another decision makers as far as the issues are concerned.

It is not in dispute that they made fairly critical decisions in this matter,” said the Sebi counsel.

The counsel for NSE employees argued that Sampark’s dark fibre was not in the trading path but used for back office connectivity for the purposes of control of the algo unit. “They say there is some mischief but nobody has identified what or where or how," he said.

The three brokerage firms that gained unfair access to NSE systems were also granted interim relief. These brokers -- OPG Securities, Way2Wealth Brokers and GKN Securities -- have to deposit 50 per cent of the disgorgement amount as security by May 20. Sebi has directed them to disgorge Rs 15.57 crore, Rs 15.34 crore and Rs 4.9 crore, respectively.

The matter will next come up for hearing on 22 July.