"Since submitting the MIS is crucial as it shows 'target achieved' and 'success rate', which ultimately reflects in yearly performance appraisals, departments are unwilling to submit data on the digital portal, which will not reflect the true picture," the sources say.

According to our sources, a meeting was called by SEBI's executive director (ED) VS Sundaresan with the chief general managers (CGMs) and general managers (GMs) where they were directed to 'ask their officers to submit the MIS on MIS Application by 2nd August otherwise there is a possibility of stoppage of payment of their claims' and were 'further directed to ensure timely compliance of the same to avert such an undesirable situation'.

"This is outright threatening and harassment of employees, which, let alone the government sector, is not even prevalent in the private sector these days. Such unethical treatment and belittling of officers who have secured this respectable job on merit makes the work culture highly toxic and demotivating. There has been dissatisfaction among the employees ever since the regime change in SEBI. There is another email sent by one of the employees to the SEBI employee association highlighting the management's lax attitude in handling the requests and grievances of the employees," the sources say.

According to our sources, SEBI's agitated employees call the new policy a 'stick and stick' policy.

Here are details of the new rules reportedly set out by SEBI for its employees...

1. Every project of ITD should have a parent department which verifies the completion of the project.

2. In case of projects where no specific department can be identified as a parent, proof of completion of the project will be the output from the project. For example, for MIS application, proof of completion of MIS application development will be the generation of MIS by all departments of SEBI.

3. Repeated communications have been made by the office of the chairman (OCH) regarding the mandatory use of MIS application; however, only around 20% of SEBI staff have used the application so far. Hence, all officers must enter MIS data into the MIS application by 2 August 2024, failing which there is a possibility of stoppage of payment of their claims for July 2024.

It must, however, be noted that all issues raised by the officers are only about their working conditions and allowances and perks -- nothing about issues faced by the vast majority of investors and stakeholders who face the brunt of the actions of SEBI officials.

Key issues faced by SEBI employees, according to our sources, include issues with house rent allowance, loans to employees (which they want to be on par with Reserve Bank of India-RBI), attendance (they want it less strict), creche facilities, allowances, MIS issues, study leave, computer allowance, pensions, work from home option, health check-up and bonding beyond work.

For the record, SEBI has been a desirable job destination for officers from other government services because salaries and perks paid by the regulator are significantly higher, including frequent opportunities to go abroad with fairly hefty per diem allowances. While RBI officials may have given themselves higher allowances, it is moot whether all financial regulators ought to have such high pay and perks since they are eventually paid for by taxpayers and stockholders, including investors and market intermediaries.