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FinMin Says No Information about SEBI Chairperson Recusing herself due to Conflicts of Interest
Moneylife Digital Team 10 January 2025
Public Interest
After refusing to share dates when Madhabi Puri Buch, the chairperson of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and her family declared their financial assets, the Union ministry of finance (FinMin) now claims that its regulatory establishment (RE) section has no information to provide on matters in which Ms Buch has recused herself due to conflicts of interest.
 
Responding to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Delhi-based activist commodore (Cmde) Lokesh Batra (retd), the central public information officer (CPIO) of the department of economic affairs (DEA) of the FinMin says, "RE Section has no information to provide."
 
Cmde Batra (retd) has been filing the RTI applications seeking information from SEBI and the FinMin about the dates of the declaration of assets (and not the details of assets) by Ms Buch and her family and cases where she had recused herself due to conflicts of interest.
 
Here is the information asked for by the RTI activist from the FinMin...
(a) Provide me the date/dates when the current chairperson of the SEBI, Madhabi Puri Buch had made declaration(s) of complete details of 'financial assets and securities' held by her (Ms Buch) to the government of India. The details of declaration(s) not repeat not required.
 
(b) Provide me the date/dates when the current chairperson of the SEBI, Ms Buch had made declaration(s) of complete details of ‘financial assets and securities’ held by her concerned family members to the government of India. The details of declaration(s) not repeat not required.
 
(c) Provide details of all the matters (if held) where chairperson had recused herself involving potential conflict of interest.
 
In response to the first two queries, Jasvinder Singh, under secretary and CPIO of the DEA, says, "The information sought has already been provided to you on 27 September 2024 in reference to your RTI application No. DOEAF/R/E/24/00505 dated 30 August 2024. The same is reiterated as under:- The disclosures to be made by the members and chairman of the board are governed by the code of conflict of interests for members of board, which may be accessed at."
 
Responding to the third query, the CPIO stated, "RE section has no information to provide."
 
 
Citing the response provided by the CPIO as 'misleading', Cmde Batra has filed a first appeal before the appellate authority of the FinMin.
 
Last week, refusing to share the dates of the declaration of financial assets and equities held by the chairperson and her family members, SEBI told Cmde Batra that this information is 'confidential' and 'personal' and has no relationship to public activity.
 
Santosh Kumar Sharma, CPIO of SEBI says, "The information sought is confidential personal information available to SEBI in a fiduciary capacity. Therefore, the said information is exempt under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act, 2005. Further, the information sought is personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest and may cause an unwarranted invasion into privacy of the individual. Hence, the same is exempt under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005." (Read: SEBI's Defiance Continues in Denying Information under RTI on Dates of Assets Declaration by Madhabi Puri Buch and Her Family)
 
You may also want to read…
 
 
 
 
 
 
Comments
balakrishnanr
2 weeks ago
When a declaration filed for an election by any candidate is public record, how can SEBI hide information that is filed by a government servant? Just does not make any sense. Looks like those in power are a nice crony club.
Reply
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