‘Fit and proper’ person criteria, AIF rules eased

THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday approved easing of the ‘fit and proper’ person criteria for market intermediaries.

- ANJANA THERESE ANTONY

It said a criminal complaint, first information report (FIR) or a chargesheet alone should not be the ground for automatic disqualification of such intermediaries, which is currently the case. “This particular itself is under legal challenge. Right now, there are 16 petitions in the high court,’ Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said at a press conference after the markets regulator’s board meet.

Sebi said initiation of winding up proceedings as a ground for disqualification should be removed. “However, the extant provision of disqualification upon an order of winding up shall remain,’ as per a release issued by the markets regulator.

Disqualification of an intermediary due to conviction for an offence involving moral turpitude should include conviction for any economic offence or any offence under securities laws, it added. The Sebi board also approved reducing the time period of non-consideration of registration of a market intermediary due to the issuance of a show-cause notice to six months from 1 year earlier.