Banthia quits BSE board

MUMBAI, Nov 9: The Vice President of the Bombay Stock Exchange, Rajendra Banthia, has decided to step down from his offices in the wake of t...

MUMBAI, Nov 9: The Vice President of the Bombay Stock Exchange, Rajendra Banthia, has decided to step down from his offices in the wake of the serious price rigging charges levelled against him by the Securities and Exchange Board of India Sebi. Banthia8217;s firm Harvest Deal Securities has been accused of rigging the share prices of BPL, Videocon and Sterlite in collusion with securities scam accused Harshad Mehta.

When contacted, Banthia confirmed that he has resigned from the BSE as Vice President on moral grounds. 8220;Though as per the amended BSE bye laws, I need not resign,8221; he clarified.

However, BSE officials say that Banthia8217;s decision has been prompted by the BSE8217;s byelaws special resolution passed earlier during the year which clearly states that ipso facto8217; if any of the office bearer is debarred from trading or suspended from trading the member has to resign from his post. While tendering his resignation to the BSE governing board which met on Monday, Banthia said that due to pendinglitigation between his broking outfit Harvest Deal Securities Pvt and the Sebi, he has decided to resign from his post. quot;Pending the investigation case, I have decided to resign from my post,quot; Banthia said in his resignation.

This, according to sources, allows the exchange maintain an egalitarian atmosphere where in the absence of code of ethics for elected brokers, no office bearer misuses his position.

It should be recalled that Sebi in its directive dated October 30 had debarred 18 brokers from trading on the bourses including Harvest Deal. Banthia8217;s broking outfit was also a part of the list of brokers who were debarred from trading from November 2 on the basis of their alleged involvement in price rigging of BPL, Videocon International and Sterlite. Banthia was also accused by the Sebi of rigging the scrip of Nedungadi bank.Though Banthia and two other brokers have moved the Mumbai High Court against the Sebi order, the Court has refused to stay the regulator8217;s order banning them from trading tillSebi8217;s investigation into case is over.

The division bench had, however, allowed these brokerages to trade for a period of four weeks in all scrips except the ones in which they have been accused of manipulation. This relief has been granted to allow the petitioners to appeal before the Supreme Court.

Sebi investigations have revealed that prima facie a set of broker acted on behalf of common set of customers and cornered a very large chunks of scrips both on BSE and NSE. These 18 entities, ie, the brokers and the common set of clients acted in a concerted manner.